Symbolic computation in nonlinear plasma interactions

Abstract

The application of symbolic computation techniques to a class of problems originating in the study of the heating of high temperature plasmas has made possible the understanding of particular nonlinear interactions between electromagnetic waves and plasmas. These wave interactions were investigated as part of the research effort in controlled thermonuclear fusion. The emphasis of our symbolic methods has been the reduction of large symbolic expressions to small analytic forms. A careful presentation and interpretation of intermediate steps of the computation was essential for obtaining a physical understanding of the phenomena under investigation. Our focus contrasts with other symbolic computations whose objective is the construction of expressions for numerical evaluation.