Nonlinear inverse bremsstrahlung and highly anisotropic electron distributions

A procedure is proposed to deal with the approximate solution of the kinetic equation for the velocity distribution function of electrons in a fully ionized plasma in the presence of strong, high frequency radiation. The Legendre polynomial expansion is applied after the kinetic equation has been written in an oscillating frame, where some directions are appropriately scaled, with the aim of making approximately isotropic, on the average, distributions that are otherwise anisotropic. The equations are derived for the isotropic part of the electron distribution in the scaled frame and for the scaling factor. The procedure is meant to display its potential in cases where the electron distribu…