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Global Existence for the Vlasov-Poisson System with Steady Spatial Asymptotics

A collisionless plasma is modeled by the Vlasov-Poisson system in three space dimensions. A fixed background of positive charge - dependant upon only velocity - is assumed. The situation in which mobile negative ions balance the positive charge as x tends to infinity is considered. Thus, the total positive charge and the total negative charge are both infinite. Smooth solutions with appropriate asymptotic behavior for large x, which were previously shown to exist locally in time, are continued globally. This is done by showing that the charge density decays at least as fast as x^{-6}. This article also establishes spatial decay estimates for the electrostatic field and its derivatives.