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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.
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