This colloquium examines the theoretical modeling of nonequilibrium low-temperature (tens of thousands of degrees) plasmas, which involves a juxtaposition of three distinct fields: atomic and molecular physics, for the input of scattering cross sections; statistical mechanics, for the kinetic modeling; and electromagnetic theory, for the simultaneous solution of Maxwell’s equations. Cross sections come either from single-scattering beam experiments or, at very low energies $(<0.5\mathrm{eV})$, from multiple-scattering experiments on “swarms” in gases—the free diffusion or large Debye length limit of a plasma, where they are embedded in transport coefficient data. The same Boltzmann kinetic theory that has been developed to a high level of sophistication over the past $50\text{years}$, specifically for the purpose of unfolding these transport data, can be employed for low-temperature plasmas with appropriate modification to allow for self-consistent rather than externally prescribed fields. A full kinetic treatment of low-temperature plasmas is, however, a daunting task and remains at the developmental level. Fortunately, since the accuracy requirements for modeling plasmas are generally much less stringent than for swarms, such a sophisticated phase-space treatment is not always necessary or desirable, and a computationally more efficient but correspondingly less accurate macroscopic theoretical model in configuration space at the fluid level is often considered sufficient. There has been a proliferation of such fluid modeling in recent times and this approach is now routinely used in the design and development of a large variety of plasma technologies, ranging from plasma display panels to plasma etching reactors for microelectronic device fabrication. However, many of these models have been developed empirically with specific applications in mind, and rigor and sophistication vary accordingly. In this colloquium, starting from the governing Boltzmann kinetic equation, a unified, general formulation of fluid equations is given for both ions and electrons in gaseous media with transparent and internally consistent approximations, all benchmarked against established results. Thereby a fluid model is obtained that is appropriate for practical application but at the same time is based on a firmer physical foundation.

Streamer discharges pose basic problems in plasma physics, as they are very transient, far from equilibrium and have high ionization density gradients; they appear in diverse areas of science and technology. This paper focuses on the derivation of a high-order fluid model for streamers. Using momentum transfer theory, the fluid equations are obtained as velocity moments of the Boltzmann equation; they are closed in the local mean energy approximation and coupled to the Poisson equation for the space charge generated electric field. The high-order tensor in the energy flux equation is approximated by the product of two lower order moments to close the system. The average collision frequencies for momentum and energy transfer in elastic and inelastic collisions for electrons in molecular nitrogen are calculated from a multi-term Boltzmann equation solution. We then discuss, in particular, (1) the correct implementation of transport data in streamer models; (2) the accuracy of the two-term approximation for solving Boltzmann's equation in the context of streamer studies; and (3) the evaluation of the mean-energy-dependent collision rates for electrons required as an input in the high-order fluid model. In the second paper in this sequence, we will discuss the solutions of the high-order fluid model for streamers, based on model and input data derived in this paper.