アルヴェーンの電離臨界速度に関する研究

抄録

Alfven's hypothesis of the ionizing critical velocity is investigated on the basis of observations with rotating plasma devices. The experimental fact is that the relative velocity between a neutral gas and a plasma perpendicular to a magnetic field does not exceed a critical velocity v_c=√2eV_i/m(eV_i and m, the ionization energy and the atomic or molecular mass of the gas, respectively). It is interpreted from the standpoint of a current which generates in a process of plasma polarization. A final interpretation on the hypothesis is not given, but the structure and elementary process of the ionizing interaction is clarified.