{
  "abstract": "Vibrational kinetics can strongly affect energy transfer, chemical kinetics, and discharge behavior in molecular plasmas, but resolving all internal states is often impractical for reactor-scale simulation. Compact, physics-based vibrational closures are particularly needed when complete state-to-state (StS) data are limited. Starting from a detailed $\\mathrm{H}_2$ StS plasma-kinetics framework coupled to an electron-Boltzmann calculation, this work develops a reduced vibrational-kinetics formulation. The $\\mathrm{H}_2$ vibrational ladder is reduced to two non-Boltzmann groups that evolve their population and internal energy. State-resolved reaction rates and associated energy-exchange terms are projected onto the groups for subsequent tabulation in reactor-scale plasma models. StS-informed samples of the reduced-model are propagated for pulsed RF $\\mathrm{H}_2$ plasmas across a scan of pulse-averaged absorbed power and compared with the corresponding StS simulations. Predictions from the sampled models reproduce the bulk plasma response, including electron density, atomic-H density, and $\\mathrm{H}_3^+$ density. Discrepancies in $\\mathrm{H}^-$ production and the upper-energy-group vibrational temperature persist across the sampled reductions. This indicates a limitation of the present VDF reconstruction rather than the nominal parameter choice. Tail-sensitive processes therefore require a more accurate representation of the vibrational distribution.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.25738",
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Sagar Pokharel"
    },
    {
      "name": "Laxminarayan L. Raja"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fkb85f57ppbnd.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.25738",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "fkb85f57ppbnd",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.25738",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.app-ph"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.plasm-ph"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2208|Plasma Diagnostics and Applications"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223038210",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.25738",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-19",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fkb85f57ppbnd.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:30:52Z",
      "native_id": "2610.25738",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.25738"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.app-ph",
      "subfield": "applied-instrumentation"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.plasm-ph",
      "subfield": "plasma"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Reduced Molecular Plasma Kinetics with Non-Boltzmann Vibrational Distribution",
  "title_text": "Reduced Molecular Plasma Kinetics with Non-Boltzmann Vibrational Distribution",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:33:41Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fkb85f57ppbnd",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}