Influence of superelastic vibrational collisions on the relaxation of the electron energy distribution function in N2 post discharge regimes

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Abstract
The relaxation of the electron energy distribution function (edf) in N 2 post discharge regime has been studied by solving the Boltzmann equation without the term due to the electric field. The results have been obtained both in the presence and in the absence of superelastic vibrational collisions. In the first case the electron energy distribution function relaxes toward nearly time independent values rich in electrons in the energy range 2-4 eV, while in the absence of superelastic vibrational collisions edf presents a hole in this energy range. This behaviour is reflected on the rate coefficients of the different processes. In particular, in the presence of superelastic vibrational collisions, the rate coefficients of the vibrational excitation and of the excitation of the metastable nitrogen atoms N(2P, 2D) can conserve high values also in the post discharge regime