Abstract
A recent paper [L.-N. Hau and W.-Z. Fu, Phys. Plasmas 14, 110702 (2007)] deals with certain mathematical and physical properties of the kappa distribution. We comment on the authors' use of a form of distribution function that is different from the "standard" form of the kappa distribution, and hence their results, inter alia for an expansion of the distribution function and for the associated number density in an electrostatic potential, do not fully reflect the dependence on κ that would be associated with the conventional kappa distribution. We note that their definition of the kappa distribution function is also different from a modified distribution based on the notion of nonextensive entropy.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 094701 |
| Journal | Physics of Plasmas |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2009 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This research is supported in part by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF). Any opinion, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and therefore the NRF does not accept any liability in regard thereto. T.K.B. acknowledges with thanks partial funding from DST through NASSP. N.S.S. would like to thank Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, India for providing leave. The work of N.S.S. and I.K. was supported by EPSRC-UK Science and Innovation award to the Centre for Plasma Physics (QUB), CPP Grant No. EP/D06337X/1.