Dimensionless parameters (plasmapy.formulary.dimensionless)

Dimensionless plasma parameters.

Dimensionless plasma parameters help us determine what regime a plasma is in. For example, plasma \(β\) is the ratio of thermal pressure to magnetic pressure in a plasma. When \(β ≫ 1\), thermal pressure is more important to dynamical behavior than magnetic pressure. When \(β ≪ 1\), magnetic pressure becomes more important than thermal pressure.

Functions

beta(T, n, B)	Compute the ratio of thermal pressure to magnetic pressure.
Debye_number(T_e, n_e)	Return the number of electrons within a sphere with a radius of the Debye length.
Hall_parameter(n, T, B, ion, particle[, ...])	Calculate the particle Hall parameter for a plasma.
Lundquist_number(L, B, density, sigma[, ...])	Compute the ratio of the Alfén wave crossing timescale to the magnetic diffusion timescale.
Mag_Reynolds(U, L, sigma)	Compute the magnetic Reynolds number.
quantum_theta(T, n_e)	Compare Fermi energy to thermal kinetic energy to check if quantum effects are important.
Reynolds_number(rho, U, L, mu)	Compute the Reynolds number.

Aliases

PlasmaPy provides aliases of the most common plasma functionality for user convenience. Aliases in PlasmaPy are denoted with a trailing underscore (e.g., alias_). For further details, please refer to the contributor guide’s section on aliases.

betaH_(n, T, B, ion, particle[, ...])	Alias to Hall_parameter.
nD_(T_e, n_e)	Alias to Debye_number.
Re_(rho, U, L, mu)	Alias to Reynolds_number.
Rm_(U, L, sigma)	Alias to Mag_Reynolds.

Example notebooks

Plasma beta in the solar atmosphere