Fundamentals of Plasma Physics [Hardcover]

J. A. Bittencourt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 17, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0387209751 | ISBN-13: 978-0387209753 | Edition: 3rd

Fundamentals of Plasma Physics is a general introduction designed to present a comprehensive, logical and unified treatment of the fundamentals of plasma physics based on statistical kinetic theory, with applications to a variety of important plasma phenomena. Its clarity and completeness makes the text suitable for self-learning and for self-paced courses. Throughout the text the emphasis is on clarity, rather than formality, the various derivations are explained in detail and, wherever possible, the physical interpretations are emphasized. The mathematical treatment is set out in great detail, carrying out the steps which are usually left to the reader. The problems form an integral part of the text and most of them were designed in such a way as to provide a guideline, stating intermediate steps with answers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews of the third edition: "This is an excellent introductory textbook of plasma physics, especially recommendable to those starting the study of the subject. … the book is an immense monography of 678 pages. Our impressions are good … ." (Iván Abonyi, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1084, 2006)

From the Back Cover

Fundamentals of Plasma Physics is a comprehensive textbook designed to present a logical and unified treatment of the fundamentals of plasma physics based on statistical kinetic theory, with applications to a variety of important plasma phenomena. The clarity and completeness of the text makes it suitable for self-learning. Throughout the text the emphasis is on clarity, rather than formality. The various derivations are explained in detail and, wherever possible, the physical interpretations are emphasized. The mathematical treatment is set out in great detail, carrying out steps that are usually left to the reader. The problems form an integral part of the text and most of them were designed in such a way as to provide a guideline for the student, stating intermediate steps with answers. The book is intended primarily for advanced undergraduate and first year graduate students meeting the subject of plasma physics for the first time and is suitable for those who have taken classical mechanics, electrodynamics and mathematics beyond sophomore level. It is a valuable compendium for any serious student of plasma physics at the level of research student or research worker and it is also of interest to researchers in other related fields, such as space physics and applied electromagnetism.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 701 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 3rd edition (June 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387209751
• ISBN-13: 978-0387209753
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,113,424 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Plasma Goodness, August 2, 2005

By 

P. Leblanc "TFG" (Reno, Nv USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fundamentals of Plasma Physics (Hardcover)

I'm currently a student working in plasma research facility. I had a problem in the fact that I could not take the plasma physics course that is offered here for scheduling reasons. I therefor needed a book that has all the basics of plasma physics, yet is simple enough that i could teach myself this field of physics. This books is exactly that. For any student with a good background in electricity and magnetism, this book will pick up right from the maxwell equations and derives all the needed equations quite explicitly making the reading much easier to follow. Also, the good thing about this book is the sheer amount of material it covers on the topic. It contains all the basics an undergrade needs to know and even for graduate students, it is a great read. It is well written and never boring. For it's explicitness and it's broadness of topics, I absolutely recomend this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Book, Self Study Friendly, July 26, 2009

By 

Moto - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fundamentals of Plasma Physics (Hardcover)

I have worked through a self study/directed reading course with this book and I can say that I enjoyed it. I think the statement made in the description of the book about 'emphasizing physical meaning' more than formality is a bit of a stretch. The book does have a great reading flow, but there are many times where just a short sentence detailing the geometric/physical meaning would make the reading go by so much faster. There were a few times where I had to spend 30+ minutes straightening out a claim made by the author that would have been resolved in two minutes with a another sentence and some reflection on my part. With that said, this book is still in the top tier of any physics book I have read, not the best, but it is still done very well. I enjoyed the detail that was gone into in the mathematical development - there is not much hand waving here. The bottom line is, if you are looking for a detailed mathematical approach to plasma physics (heavy calculus), this might be your book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, November 15, 2007

By 

F. Scharf (Bochum, Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fundamentals of Plasma Physics (Hardcover)

I am a PhD student in Electrical Engineering, focussing on plasma physics. I have access to a lot of text books, and normally you find that one book is good for topic A, but not so good for topic B. However, in this book I could find all the topics that were of interest to me (in particular the Boltzmann equation and its moments), well-written and easy to understand.

Calculations are easy to follow and normally are explained by physical explanations using text and figures. The notation is reader-friendly, tensor analysis is avoided by using indices instead.

The book is a text book, so one should not expect the latest and most detailed science results, or derivations "from scratch" (like the BBGKY hierarchy). Instead, the reader should expect a solid and detailed introductory text into plasma physics that covers a large amount of topics.

To conclude, I can only recommend this book to every grad or undergrad student looking for a book to start with, or to brush up on some basics.