Approach to Equilibrium of a Quantum Plasma

The treatment of irreversible processes in a classical plasma [R. Balescu, Phys. Fluids 3, 62 (1960)] is extended to a gas of charged particles obeying quantum statistics. The various contributions to the equation of evolution for the reduced one-particle Wigner function are written in a form analogous to the classical formalism. The summation is then performed in a straightforward manner. The resulting equation describes collisions between particles ``dressed'' by their polarization clouds, exactly as in the classical situation.