This award will support a collaborative project in plasma physics between Dr. Abraham Bers, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Professor J. L. Delcroix, Laboratory for Plasma Physics, University of Paris XI. Studies of the plasma state of matter, particularly over the past three decades, have evolved into a new and important scientific and technological discipline, encompassing a unified body of theoretical and experimental techniques for a wide range of applications, such as gas lasers and the treatment of semiconductor surfaces. In this project the investigators will incorporate past research efforts to produce the basis for a new and comprehensive basic text in plasma physics for first-year graduate students. The following topics will be addressed: 1) hierarchical descrip- tions of micro-to macro-dynamics 2) collisional and kinetic transport phenomena 3) waves in magnetized plasmas 4) instability theory and applications 5) nonlinear dynamics and 6) radiation. Both Dr. Bers and Professor Delcroix are well recognized as contributors of long standing to the field of plasma physics. This project will benefit from their joint expertise in both fully ionized and weakly ionized plasmas.
