Analysis of the low-pressure low-current dc positive column in neon

A time-dependent, nonstatistical analysis of the positive column in low-pressure neon is presented. The analysis is based on the elliptic representation of the Boltzmann equation and so is tolerant of large degrees of anisotropy. A self-consistent absorbing wall boundary condition is described, along with a time-dependent form of Poisson's equation. The equations are cast in a form that lends itself to a numerical implementation based on a well established low phase-error monotonic method. An instability with short time scale is predicted near the wall, and is analyzed. A scaling law for the various anisotropic components in the nonlocal regime is derived, and a critical analysis of the nonlocal electron kinetic method is presented.