ExB_drift

plasmapy.formulary.drifts.ExB_drift(E: Unit("V / m"), B: Unit("T")) -> Unit("m / s")

Calculate the “electric cross magnetic” particle drift.

Aliases: veb_

Parameters:

• E (Quantity) – Electric field vector
• B (Quantity) – Magnetic field vector

Returns:

v – Drift velocity, in m/s

Return type:

Quantity

Examples

>>> import astropy.units as u
>>> from astropy.constants.si import g0, e, m_e
>>> ex = np.array([1, 0, 0])
>>> ez = np.array([0, 0, 1])
>>> force_drift(-ez*g0*m_e, ex*0.01*u.T, e)
<Quantity [ 0.0000000e+00, -5.5756984e-09,  0.0000000e+00] m / s>
>>> force_drift(-ez*g0*m_e, ez*0.01*u.T, e)
<Quantity [ 0., -0.,  0.] m / s>
>>> force_drift(-ez*g0*m_e, ex*u.T, e)
<Quantity [ 0.0000000e+00, -5.5756984e-11,  0.0000000e+00] m / s>

Notes

The E cross B drift is given by

\[\vec{v} = \frac{\vec{E} \times \vec{B}}{|B|^2}\]

and is independent of particle charge.

References

• PM Bellan, Fundamentals of Plasma Physics, 3.57