| Popis: |
The domain of parameters for breakdown in the space environment involves extreme conditions such as non-uniform field, Nd/(Nd)m ≪ 1 (where N is the density of the background gas, d is the electrode separation, and (Nd)m is the value of Nd at the Paschen minimum), and magnetic field, and in addition, the influence of a weakly ionized background gas. We have decomposed the problem of breakdown in the space environment into two: 1) breakdown in partially enclosed structures, where the effect of the “round” electrode (i.e., the enclosing structure) needs to be taken into account, and 2) “sheath” breakdown, where the “ground” electrode is assumed to be at infinity. The first of these problems is further decomposed into two: a) when the size of the structure (or openings in the enclosure) is such that the effect of the space-plasma is mainly to eliminate the statistical time lag for breakdown, and b) where the effect of the space-plasma needs to be taken into account. In this paper, the problem of breakdown in partially enclosed structures neglecting the effect of the space-plasma is considered. |
