Time Lag in the Thermalization of a Fast Ion in a Plasma

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Abstract
The time lag in the thermalization of the spherical mean speed of a fast ion injected into a plasma is defined and computed without solving the Fokker‐Planck equation governing the distribution in speed. The time lag and certain related, recursively computable, time moments can serve as local measures of the rate of evolution of the Maxwellian distribution from an initial one, particularly for large values of the speed. Numerical computations of the time lag are presented for a fully ionized deuterium plasma for two initial conditions. Certain natural extensions of the time lag are briefly mentioned.

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