Asymptotic and numerical analysis of kinetic and fluid models for the transport of charged particles

This thesis is devoted to the mathematical study of some models of partial differential equations from plasma physics. We are mainly interested in the theoretical study of various asymptotic regimes of Vlasov-Poisson-Fokker-Planck systems. First, in the presence of an external magnetic field, we focus on the approximation of massless electrons providing reduced models when the ratio m_e/m_i between the mass m_e of an electron and the mass m_i of an ion tends to 0 in the equations. Depending on the scaling, it is shown that, at the limit, solutions satisfy hydrodynamic models of convection-diffusion type or are given by Maxwell-Boltzmann-Gibbs densities depending on the intensity of collisions. Using hypo- coercive and hypo-elliptic properties of the equations, we are able to obtain convergence rates as a function of the mass ratio. In a second step, by similar methods, we show exponential convergence of solutions of the Vlasov-Poisson-Fokker-Planck system without magnetic field towards the steady state, with explicit rates depending on the parameters of the model. Finally, we design a new type of finite volume scheme for a class of nonlinear convection-diffusion equations ensuring the satisfying long-time behavior of discrete solutions. These properties are verified numerically on several models including the Fokker-Planck equation with magnetic field. (author)