Quantum kinetic theories in degenerate plasmas

Abstract

In this review we give an overview of the recent work on quantum kinetic theories of plasmas. We focus, in particular, on the case where the electrons are fully degenerate. For such systems, perturbation methods using the distribution function can be problematic. Instead we present a model that considers the dynamics of the Fermi surface. The advantage of this model is that, even though the value of the distribution function can be greatly perturbed outside the equilibrium Fermi surface, deformation of the Fermi surface is small up to very large amplitudes. Next, we investigate the short-scale dynamics for which the Wigner–Moyal equation replaces the Vlasov equation. In particular, we study wave–particle interaction, and deduce that new types of wave damping can occur due to the simultaneous absorption (or emission) of multiple wave quanta. Finally, we consider exchange effects within a quantum kinetic formalism to find a model that is more accurate than those using exchange potentials from density functional theory. We deduce the exchange corrections to the dispersion relations for Langmuir and ion-acoustic waves. In comparison to results based on exchange potentials deduced from density functional theory we find that the latter models are reasonably accurate for Langmuir waves, but rather inaccurate for ion acoustic waves.