Novel Transport Properties of Strongly Magnetized Plasmas

Plasmas that are so strongly magnetized that the electron gyrofrequency exceeds the electron plasma frequency exhibit novel transport properties. This talk summarizes examples obtained from a combination of molecular dynamics simulations, linear response kinetic theory, and generalized Boltzmann theory calculations. First, we consider an ion slowing as it passes through strongly magnetized electrons. A common expectation is that the drag force is antiparallel to the velocity of the ion, causing it to slow. A novel behavior observed to be caused by strong magnetization of the electrons is that the drag force has components perpendicular to the velocity of the ion. These can cause non-intuitive behaviors of the ion trajectory, such as an increase in the ion gyroradius due to a deflection of the ion into the direction perpendicular to the magnetic field by the electrons. Another observation is that strong magnetization causes a Barkas effect, where the drag force is strongly dependent on the sign of the interacting charges: an effect that is not present in standard Coulomb collision theory. These novel single particle effects are shown to translate into large changes in macroscopic transport processes, including a large change to the electrical resistivity tensor.