Plasma theory and modeling

thumbnail|The plasma making up the Sun can be modeled as an MHD system

In physics, a plasmon is a quantum of plasma oscillation. Just as light (an optical oscillation) consists of photons, the plasma oscillation consists of plasmons. The plasmon can be considered as a quasiparticle since it arises from the quantization of plasma oscillations, just like phonons are quantizations of mechanical vibrations. Thus, plasmons are collective (a discrete number) oscillations of the free electron gas density. For example, at optical frequencies, plasmons can couple with a photon to create another quasiparticle called a plasmon polariton.

mechanism by which a celestial body generates a magnetic field

property of a physical system that stays approximately constant when changes occur slowly, e.g. entropy

drifting part of electrodynamic motion

subfield of physics