AST 552 General Plasma Physics II (2023)

• Classroom: Peyton 033
  
• Period: January 30 – May 18
• Time: 10:30 - 11:50am MWF

• Instructors: Professor Hantao Ji
• Email: hji@princeton.edu
• Phone: (609)243-2162 (PPPL)
  
• Office: Rm L222 at PPPL/Rm 206 at Peyton
• Office hours: by appointment
  

• Grader: Himawan Winarto
  
• Email: hwinarto@princeton.edu
• Office: LSB Annex 1100.17 at PPPL
  
• Office hours: by appointment

• Class schedules (subject to change; please check back often).

• Week 1: lectures on Jan. 30, Feb. 1 and Feb. 3.
  
• Week 2: lectures on Feb. 6*, Feb. 8* and Feb. 10.
• Week 3: lectures on Feb. 13 and Feb. 15.
  
• Week 4: lectures on Feb. 20*, Feb. 22 and Feb. 24.
  
• Week 5: lectures on Feb. 27, March 1 and March 3.
  
• Week 6: lectures on March 6, and mid-term exam on March 10.
* by Prof. Amitava Bhattacharjee

• Spring break (Mar. 11 – Mar. 19)


• Week 7: lectures on March 20 and March 22.
  
• Week 8: lectures on March 27 and March 31.
• Week 9: lectures on April 3 and April 5.
  
• Week 10: lectures on April 12 and April 14.s
  
• Week 11: lectures on April 17, April 19, and April 21.
  
• Week 12: lectures on April 24, April 26, and April 28

• Reading period (May 1 – May 9)

• Final exam will be oral and will take place on May 15-18 (room tbd).
  

Syllabus

Lectures and Reading Materials

• Lecture 1: MHD models
  

• Freidberg's book, Ch. 2 & 9
• Braginskii's review: Wesson's book, p.84, Kulsrud's book, Ch. 8
• Kundu's book, Ch. 1-4

• Lecture 2: Magnetostatic equilibrium
  

• Freidberg's book, Ch. 3-6
  
• Miyamoto's book, Ch. 5, 15
• Wesson's book, Ch. 3
  
• Kulsrud's book, Ch. 4

• Lecture 3: Steady flow
  

• Wesson's book, Ch. 3
  
• Kivelson and Russell's book, Ch. 4
  
• Kundu's book, Ch. 5, 9, 10
  
• Muller and Buhler's book, Springer (2001), Ch. 4

• Lecture 4: Waves, Discontinuities, and Shocks
  

• Kulsrud's book, Ch. 5
  
• Miyamoto's book, Ch. 3
  
• Kundu's book, Ch. 7, 15
  
• Gurnett & Bhattacharjee's book, Ch. 8

• Lecture 5: Energy Principle
  

• Freidberg's book, Ch. 8, 9, 10
  
• Kulsrud's book, Ch. 7
  
• Miyamoto's book, Ch. 4

• Lecture 6: Energy Principle: Applications
  

• Freidberg's book, Ch. 8
  
• Kulsrud's book, Ch. 7
  
• Miyamoto's book, Ch. 6

• Lecture 7: Instabilities of Fusion Plasmas I
  

• Freidberg's book, Ch. 11
  
• Wesson's book, Ch. 7
  
• Goedbloed & Poedt's book (2004), Ch. 9

• Lecture 8: Instabilities of Fusion Plasmas II
  

• Freidberg's book, Ch. 11 & 12
  
• Wesson's book, Ch. 6 & 7
  
• Miyamoto's book, Ch. 12 & 15

• Lecture 9: Ideal MHD Instabilities with Flows
  

• Kundu's book, Ch. 11
  
• Kulsrud's book, Ch. 7

• Lecture 10: Resistive MHD Instabilities
  

• Kundu's book, Ch. 11
  
• Goldston & Rutherford's book, Ch. 20

• Lecture 11: Self-Organization and Turbulence
  

• Kundu's book, Ch. 12
  
• Biskamp's book, Ch. 5

• Lecture 12: Magnetic Reconnection
  

• Lecture 13: Magnetic Dynamo

Textbooks

• Gurnett and Bhattacharjee, Introduction to Plasma Physics: With Space, Laboratory and Astrophysical Applications 2nd Ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2017).


• Freidberg, Ideal MHD (Cambridge University Press, 2014).

• Wesson, Tokamaks 4th Ed. (Oxford University Press, 2011).

• Miyamoto, Plasma Physics for Controlled Fusion 2nd Ed. (Springer, 2016).
  

• Kulsrud, Plasma physics for astrophysics (Princeton University Press, 2005). [Errata]

• Kundu, Fluid Mechanics (Academic Press, 1990); 6th Ed. (Academic Press, 2015).