Modified formula of nonlocal electron transport in a laser-produced plasma.

Abstract

A nonlocal heat-transport formula for electrons is derived to include the terms associated with the electrostatic potential and \ensuremath{\partial}/\ensuremath{\partial}v(${\mathit{f}}_{0}$,${\mathit{f}}_{1}$) in the Fokker-Planck (FP) equation. Then the FP equation for a strongly inhomogeneous plasma is solved. It is found that the behavior of the electron thermal conductivity at a large temperature gradient is considerably affected by the electrostatic field, and the thermal conductivity \ensuremath{\kappa}/${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\kappa}}}_{\mathrm{SH}}$ for electrons scales as 1/k in a large temperature gradient k when there exists a non-negligible electrostatic field, where ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\kappa}}}_{\mathrm{SH}}$ is the Spitzer-H\"arm heat coefficient.