Snowplow Model Predictions for Plasma Temperature in Z pinch Discharges

Miguel Cárdenas; Alejandro Nettle; Leandro Núñez

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arXiv · 2506.16551

Snowplow Model Predictions for Plasma Temperature in Z pinch Discharges

Miguel Cárdenas·Alejandro Nettle·Leandro Núñez

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Abstract

Using the general framework of the snowplow model, we introduce the equations for computing plasma temperature in Z pinch discharges. We also present expressions to quantify energy transfers in Z pinch discharges. We then apply this methodology to estimate the temperature and energy transfers of a real prototypical experiment and analyze how the plasma temperature behaves under various modifications of the parameters of the prototypical experiment. Among our discoveries we highlight that the temperature of the plasma in the discharges grows linearly with the initial voltage at the capacitor bank. We summarize this and other findings through a single, fairly compact formula.

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Miguel Cárdenas, Alejandro Nettle, Leandro Núñez. 2025-06-19. Snowplow Model Predictions for Plasma Temperature in Z pinch Discharges. https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.16551

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