Article
Version 1
Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
Thermodynamic, non-extensive, or turbulent quasi equilibrium for space plasma environment
Version 1
: Received: 29 May 2019 / Approved: 31 May 2019 / Online: 31 May 2019 (06:12:02 CEST)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Yoon, P.H. Thermodynamic, Non-Extensive, or Turbulent Quasi-Equilibrium for the Space Plasma Environment. Entropy 2019, 21, 820. Yoon, P.H. Thermodynamic, Non-Extensive, or Turbulent Quasi-Equilibrium for the Space Plasma Environment. Entropy 2019, 21, 820.
Abstract
The Boltzmann-Gibbs (BG) entropy has been used in a wide variety of problems for more than a century. It is well known that BG entropy is extensive, but for certain systems such as those dictated by long-range interactions, the entropy must be non-extensive. Tsallis entropy possesses non-extensive characteristics, which is parametrized by a variable q (q = 1 being the classic BG limit), but unless q is determined from microscopic dynamics, the model remains but a phenomenological tool. To this date very few examples have emerged in which q can be computed from first principles. This paper shows that the space plasma environment, which is governed by long-range collective electromagnetic interaction, represents a perfect example for which the q parameter can be computed from micro-physics. By taking the electron velocity distribution function measured in the heliospheric environment into account, and considering them to be in quasi equilibrium state with electrostatic turbulence known as the quasi-thermal noise, it is shown that the value corresponding to q = 9/13 = 0.6923 may be deduced. This prediction is verified against observation made by spacecraft, and it is shown to be in excellent agreement.
Keywords
non-extensive entropic principle; plasma turbulence; quasi equilibrium
Subject
Physical Sciences, Astronomy and Astrophysics
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Comments (0)
We encourage comments and feedback from a broad range of readers. See criteria for comments and our Diversity statement.
Leave a public commentSend a private comment to the author(s)
* All users must log in before leaving a comment