NONLOCAL ENERGY-SPECTRUM OF ELECTRONS IN THE ELECTRODE REGIONS OF A WEAKLY IONIZED PLASMA WITH DIFFUSIVE CURRENT FLOW

The validity of the hydrodynamic approximation for modeling a diffuse discharge at the electrodes in a weakly ionized high-pressure plasma i s examined. The boundary value problem for the system of equations whi ch control this effect, which includes a kinetic equation for the elec tron distribution function, a hydrodynamic equation for ion transport, and the Poisson equation for the electric field strength, is solved n umerically. The calculated nonlocal electron distribution functions ar e compared with the local distributions corresponding to a hydrodynami c approach. It is shown that the hydrodynamic approximation can be use d for qualitative calculations of the characteristics of the diffuse d ischarge.