Hydrodynamic limit for an arc discharge at atmospheric pressure (Q2487833)

The authors start with a system of Boltzmann type transport equations for the distribution of electrons, ions and neutral molecules. The collision operators couple these equations describing elastic binary collisions between particles where at least one particle is neutral (Boltzmann), elastic binary collisions between charged particles (Fokker-Planck), and inelastic collisions with impact ionization and its reverse recombination. This system is scaled using two small parameters, one of them measures the smallness of electron mass with respect to ion or neutral particle mass, the other one measures the ionization level. (For an arc discharge the two parameters are nearly equal.) The scaling shows that impact ionization gets a leading role in collision processes. Then the macroscopic limit is taken, which leads to Saha law and hydrodynamic model with two temperatures. Some new features of this procedure are discussed.