reduce_bimaxwellian_temperature

plasmapy.diagnostics.langmuir.reduce_bimaxwellian_temperature(

T_e: Quantity,

hot_fraction: float,

) → Quantity

Reduce a bi-Maxwellian (dual) temperature to a single mean temperature for a given fraction.

Parameters:

• T_e (Quantity, numpy.ndarray) – The bi-Maxwellian temperatures in eV. If a single temperature is provided, this is returned.

• hot_fraction (float) – Fraction of hot to total population. If this parameter is None the temperature is assumed to be singular Maxwellian.

Returns:

T_e – The reduced (mean) temperature in units of eV.

Return type:

Quantity

Notes

This function aids methods that take a single electron temperature in situations where the electron population is bi-Maxwellian. The reduced temperature is obtained as the weighted mean:

\[T_{e,red} = T_c \left( 1 - f_h \right) + T_h f_h\]