impact_parameter_perp¶

plasmapy.transport.collisions.impact_parameter_perp(T, particles: (<class 'plasmapy.atomic.particle_class.Particle'>, <class 'plasmapy.atomic.particle_class.Particle'>), V=<Quantity nan m / s>)

Distance of closest approach for a 90 degree Coulomb collision.

Parameters
• T (Quantity) – Temperature in units of temperature or energy per particle, which is assumed to be equal for both the test particle and the target particle

• particles (tuple) – A tuple containing string representations of the test particle (listed first) and the target particle (listed second)

• V (Quantity, optional) – The relative velocity between particles. If not provided, thermal velocity is assumed: $$\mu V^2 \sim 2 k_B T$$ where mu is the reduced mass.

Returns

impact_parameter_perp – The distance of closest approach for a 90 degree Coulomb collision.

Return type
Raises
• ValueError – If the mass or charge of either particle cannot be found, or any of the inputs contain incorrect values.

• UnitConversionError – If the units on any of the inputs are incorrect

• TypeError – If T, or V are not Quantities.

• RelativityError – If the input velocity is same or greater than the speed of light.

Warns
• ~astropy.units.UnitsWarning – If units are not provided, SI units are assumed

• ~plasmapy.utils.RelativityWarning – If the input velocity is greater than 5% of the speed of light.

Notes

The distance of closest approach, impact_parameter_perp, is given by 1

$b_{\perp} = \frac{Z_1 Z_2}{4 \pi \epsilon_0 m v^2}$

Examples

>>> from astropy import units as u
>>> T = 1e6*u.K
>>> particles = ('e', 'p')
>>> impact_parameter_perp(T, particles)
<Quantity 8.35505011e-12 m>


References

1

Francis, F. Chen. Introduction to plasma physics and controlled fusion 3rd edition. Ch 5 (Springer 2015).