Kinetic Theory of the Electron Gas in a Positive Background. II. Nonequilibrium Theory

A kinetic equation for the electron gas which is not subject to the usual short-range divergence is derived. The method used is the division of the Coulomb potential into a weak part and a short-range part. The result is expressed as the sum of a Boltzmann integral for the short range potential and a Balescu integral for the ``weak'' part, both of which are convergent. The ``dominant'' terms are identical with those obtained from the usual (divergent) Balescu equation with a cutoff in the k integration. An expression is obtained for the nondominant (i.e., nonlogarithmic) correction.