Description:
<jats:p>The density and temperature distribution in a fully ionized cylindrical plasma with external particle production and without volume recombination are derived from the transport equations for the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. It is found that the Schottky approach using a constant temperature and a simplified boundary condition is not applicable to this problem. The general calculation, which includes temperature variation and utilizes a more general boundary condition, produces results which cannot be represented in an analytical form but are determined by machine solutions. The results show density and temperature distributions which vary strongly with the discharge parameters. The general features of these distribution functions are discussed and interpreted in physical terms. The calculations also produce the maximum density n0 at the edge of the core as the eigenvalue of the problem. The dependence of n0 on the experimental parameters can be reasonably approximated by a simple analytical relation. A general similarity law relating the discharge parameters is given.</jats:p>