Collective effects on equilibria of trapped charged plasmas

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Abstract
A fluid model is used to study analytically the equilibria of charged plasma in traps. Several geometries are explored: a one‐dimensional slab equilibrium of a finite‐temperature plasma mechanically confined by two plates that are externally maintained at fixed potentials, and both spherical as well as spheroidal equilibria of a zero‐temperature plasma confined in traps distorted from the standard Penning‐trap configuration by virtue of the multipole moments of the trapped plasma. Although this study was motivated by the necessity of understanding possible collective effects in charged‐plasma traps for the design and future diagnosis of the ambitious antiproton‐gravity experiment being undertaken by the Los Alamos Collaboration [Proceedings of the Second Conference on the Intersections between Particle and Nuclear Physics (American Institute of Physics, New York, 1986), AIP Pub. No. 150, p. 436], this study is also relevant to current and future attempts at producing strongly coupled plasmas and ionic crystals.