Determination of macroscopic quantities for a Townsend discharge in helium by both Boltzmann equation and Monte Carlo methods

Abstract

We compare the results obtained in the study of a weakly ionized gas for a Townsend discharge which is developped in a steady uniform field. This study has been carried out in two laboratories : firstly at the Centre de Physique Atomique de Toulouse using Boltzmann equation (1) and secondly in Paris (Ecole Supe'rieure dl~lectricitk) by Monte Carlo simulation.