Preliminary study of uncertainty-driven plasma diffusion

Quantum mechanical plasma diffusion is studied using a semi-classical model with two different characteristic lengths; one is the average interparticle separation, and the other is the magnetic length. The diffusion coefficients D derived in this study show a dependence on several plasma parameters, such as temperature T, mass m, density n, and magnetic field B, similar to that observed experimentally. The numerical values of the diffusion coefficient D in this study are as large as that for neoclassical diffusion. We have pointed out in this study that (1) for distant encounters in typical fusion plasmas of T=10 keV and n=1020 m-3, the average potential every - 30 meV is as small as the uncertainty in energy ΔE - 40 meV, and (2) for a magnetic field B=3T, the spatial size of the wavefunction in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field is as large as lB - 1.4 x 10-8 m, which is much larger than the typical electron wavelength λe - 10-11 m. (author)