Waves in Multicomponent Vlasov Plasmas with Anisotropic Pressure

This is a study o f the dispersion formulas for small amplitude waves in a fully ionized Ncomponent plasma, in the presence of a constant external magnetic field. The number of ion species (whether positively or negatively charged) is left general. From a B O L T Z M A N N V L A S O V equation for each component of the plasma the first three moment equations are taken. The lowtemperature approximation is used to close the set of equations. This set is then solved together with the equations o f M A X W E L L to obtain a general dispersion relation, a determinant of order 3 N. This relation is studied for the principal waves, and various compact formulas are derived. They are shown to include several known results, when applied to plasmas of the usual compositions. Their general form makes them suitable for various physical approximations.