Dynamics of antiproton plasma in a time-dependent harmonic trap

An antiproton plasma confined in a quasi-1D device is described in terms of a self-consistent fluid formulation using a variational approach. Unlike previous treatments, the use of the time-dependent variational method allows to retain the thermal and Coulomb effects. A certain Ansatz is proposed for the number density and fluid velocity fields, which reduces the problem essentially to ordinary nonlinear differential equations. In adiabatic cooling, the frequency of the trap potential is slowly decreased. An adiabatic equation of state is assumed for closure. The numerical simulation of the nonlinear dynamics is performed for realistic parameters.

Automated summary

An antiproton plasma confined in a quasi-1D device is described using a variational approach with self-consistent fluid formulation, while retaining thermal and Coulomb effects with the use of time-dependent variational method. Certain assumptions are made for number density and fluid velocity fields, simplifying the problem to ordinary nonlinear differential equations. Numerical simulations of the nonlinear dynamics for realistic parameters are performed, with adiabatic cooling and assumption of adiabatic equation of state for closure.