Semi-classical vs. quantum analysis of transport properties of a fully ionized plasma

A semi-classical (SC) kinetic theory and its purely quantum-mechanical analog are used to calculate the thermal conductivity of a weakly-coupled one-component plasma. The quantum diffraction and symmetry effects are properly taken into account in the quantum theory by the Wigner functions formalism. These effects are included in the temperature dependent effective potentials in the SC theory. Comparison between the two methods shows that diffraction effects are qualitatively well described by the SC framework. On the contrary the quantum symmetry effects are not recovered by the corresponding effective potential as far as the SC dynamics is concerned. © 1987 IOP Publishing Ltd.SCOPUS: ar.j