Balance equation and the quasitemperature of channeled particles in equilibrium

Abstract

Using the methods of nonequilibrium statistical thermodynamics, we obtain the equation for the transverse energy and momentum balance for fast atomic particles moving in the planar channeling regime. Based on the solution of this equation, we obtain an expression for the transverse quasitemperature in the quasiequilibrium in terms of the basic parameters of the theory. We show that the equilibrium quasitemperature of channeled particles is established because of particle diffusion in the space of transverse energies (subsystem “heating”), the dissipative process (“cooling”), and the anharmonic effects of particle oscillations between the channel walls (the redistribution of energies over the oscillatory degrees of freedom is the internal thermalization of the subsystem). According to the estimates for particles with an energy of the order of 1 MeV, the quasitemperature values are in the characteristic temperature range for a low-temperature plasma.