An introduction to quantum plasmas

Abstract

Shielding effects in non-degenerate and degenerate plasmas are compared. A detailed derivation of the Wigner-Poisson system is provided for electrostatic quantum plasmas where relativistic, spin and collisional effects are not essential. Later a detailed derivation of a quantum hydrodynamic model starting from the Wigner-Poisson system is shown. The route for this derivation considers the eikonal decomposition of the one-body wavefunctions of the quantum statistical mixture. The merits and limitations of the resulting quantum hydrodynamic model are discussed.