Collisionless Phase Space Equilibria

According to Boltzmann's H-theorem, all collisional processes eventually relax to a Maxwellian particle distribution function, as that particular form maximizes the entropy. However, despite the lack of collisions, collisionless plasmas are often observed to be in a quasi-Maxwellian state. This work will determine the universality of equilibrium states in collisionless plasmas by examining the relaxation of the two-stream and Weibel instabilities, through the continuum Vlasov-Maxwell model implemented in the Gkeyll simulation framework. The timescale and final state of the collisionless equilibration will be analyzed.