Steady states in plasma physics—the Vlasov–Fokker–Planck equation

In this paper we investigate the non‐linear Vlasov–Fokker–Planck (VFP) equation, a both physically and mathematically interesting modification of Vlasov's equation, which describes a plasma in a thermal bath. We prove existence, uniqueness and representation results for steady states of the VFP equation both in the case of a mollified interaction potential and for the VFP–Poisson system. The uniqueness and representation results are of special interest since they distinguish special solutions of the Vlasov equation.