Ambipolar diffusion in multicomponent plasmas

Abstract

A recently described self-consistent effective binary diffusion approximation is applied to ambipolar diffusion in a neutral multicomponent plasma in zero magnetic field, where forced diffusion due to the electric field E plays an essential role. The field E is determined by the constraint that the net current flow produced by the diffusion fluxes must be zero. The resulting effective binary diffusion fluxes are the sum of those that would obtain for E=0 and ambipolar correction terms proportional to E. The formulation is .self=consistent with respect to both mass and charge, the net diffusional fluxes of which are both identically zero. The results may be further simplified due to the small mass of the electrons. The effective binary diffusivity De of the electrons no longer appears in the simplified expressions. They are therefore well suited to numerical calculations, where the large value of De, might otherwise have resulted in unacceptable stability or accuracy restrictions. The well-known effective doubling of ion diffusivities due to ambipolar diffusion occurs in simple situations but is not a general feature.