A Nonextensive Entropy Approach to Kappa-Distributions

By M. Leubner. 2001

256 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Most astrophysical plasmas are observed to have velocity distribution functions exhibiting non-Maxwellian suprathermal tails. The high energy particle populations are accurately represented by the family of kappa-distributions where the use of these distributions has been unjustly criticized because of a perceived lack of theoretical justification. We show that distributions very close to kappa-distributions are a consequence of the generalized entropy favored by non extensive statistics, which provides the missing link for power-law models of non-thermal features from fundamental physics. With regard to the physical basis supplied by the Tsallis nonextensive entropy formalism we propose that this slightly modified functional form, qualitatively similar to the traditional kappa-distribution, be used in fitting particle spectra in the future.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cbc26c8be5417c644a02ad1385e1d0bac9dd28ba

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. George Livadiotis
2. David John McComas
3. M. Maksimović
4. J. Chaufray
5. V. Pierrard
6. M. Lazar
7. Eckart Marsch
8. R. Lin

In Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

1. George Livadiotis
2. David John McComas
3. V. Pierrard
4. M. Lazar
5. Eckart Marsch

In Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

1. George Livadiotis
2. V. Pierrard
3. M. Lazar
4. David John McComas
5. Eckart Marsch

Citations in the corpus

• INVARIANT KAPPA DISTRIBUTION IN SPACE PLASMAS OUT OF EQUILIBRIUM (2011, methodology): “The origin of the kappa distribution in Tsallis Statistical Mechanics has already been examined by several authors (e.g., Milovanov & Zelenyi 2000; Leubner 2002, 2004a, 2004b; Shizgal 2007; Nieves-Chinchilla & Viñas 2008a, 2008b; Livadiotis & McComas 2009).”
• Kappa Distributions: Theory and Applications in Space Plasmas (2010, background): “Leubner (2002) shows that Kappa-like distributions can result as a consequence of the entropy generalization in nonextensive Tsallis statistics (Tsallis 1995), physically related to the long range nature of the Coulomb potential, turbulence ad intermittency (Leubner and Voros 6 2005; Treumann and…”
• Radial evolution of the electron distribution functions in the fast solar wind between 0.3 and 1.5 AU (2005, background): “There is an increasing amount of both theoretical [Vinas et al., 2000; Leubner, 2002; Dorelli and Scudder, 2003; Landi and Pantellini, 2001; Vocks and Mann, 2003] and observational [Ko et al., 1998; Pinfield et al., 1999; Esser and Edgar, 2000; Chiuderi and Chiuderi Drago, 2004] evidences that…”