Fundamentals of Plasma Physics

The widespread importance of plasmas in many areas of contemporary physics makes good textbooks in the field that are both introductory and comprehensive invaluable. This new book by Paul Bellen from CalTech by and large meets these goals. It covers the traditional textbook topics such as particle orbits, the derivation of the MHD equations from Vlasov theory, cold and warm plasma waves, Landau damping, as well as in the later chapters less common subjects such as magnetic helicity, nonlinear processes and dusty plasmas. The book is clearly written, neatly presented, and each chapter has a number of exercises or problems at their end. The author has also thankfully steered clear of the pitfall of filling the book with his own research results. The preface notes that the book is designed to provide an introduction to plasma physics for final year undergraduate and post-graduate students. However, it is difficult to see many physics undergraduates now at UK universities getting to grips with much of the content since their mathematics is not of a high enough standard. Students in Applied Mathematics departments would certainly fare better. An additional problem for the beginner is that some of the chapters do not lead the reader gently into a subject, but begin with quite advanced concepts. Being a multi-disciplinary subject, beginners tend to find plasma physics quite hard enough even when done simply. For postgraduate students these criticisms fade away and this book provides an excellent introduction. More senior researchers should also enjoy the book, especially Chapters 11–17 where more advanced topics are discussed. I found myself continually comparing the book with my favourite text for many years, `The Physics of Plasmas' by T J M Boyd and J J Sanderson, reissued by Cambridge University Press in 2003. Researchers would want both books on their shelves, both for the different ways basic plasma physics is covered, and the diversity of more advanced topics. For the undergraduate level, I would find it easier to construct an introductory course from Boyd and Sanderson.