STOCHASTIC PERTURBATION AND RELAXATION OF A CLASSICAL COULOMB PLASMA

It is shown that the dynamic mixing of phase trajectories in a system of classical Coulomb particles does not result in the recombination de scribed by the kinetic equations. The effect of the imprecision of the computational method and the effect of permutation of the particle ve locities on recombination relaxation is studied. The imprecision of th e numerical integration of the dynamical equations results in a loss o f reversibility of the solution and in anomalously slow (in exact calc ulations) relaxation. If the permutations of the particle velocities a re made with a rate higher than the rate of Coulomb collisions, recomb ination relaxation proceeds in accordance with kinetic theory. (C) 199 7 American Institute of Physics.