We obtain a covariant decomposition of the motion of a relativistic charged particle into parallel motion and perpendicular gyration, and transform to guiding-center coordinates using Lie transforms. The natural guiding-center Poisson bracket structure and Hamiltonian are derived. The guiding-center equations of motion are presented to one order higher than the usual drifts, and the correction to the gyromomentum is given. We then allow for eikonal wave perturbations to the Lagrangian action. We develop a manifestly gauge-invariant and covariant oscillation-center theory to arbitrarily high order, and thereby derive the relativistic ponderomotive Hamiltonian.
We sum the guiding-center action over a distribution and add the Maxwell action to obtain the total action of a guiding-center plasma. Upon variation, this yields self-consistent covariant relativistic kinetic and field equations; from these we identify the guiding-center current density and the guiding-center magnetization. Noether's theorem then yields covariant conservation laws for the momentum-energy and the angular momentum of a relativistic guiding-center plasma; from these we identify the guiding-center stress-energy tensor and the guiding-center spin angular momentum tensor. Repeating this calculation for guiding/oscillation centers, we find that variation yields self-consistent relativistic kinetic and field equations for the plasma in the wave field, including the wave dispersion relation; from these we identify the wave magnetization and susceptibility. Noether's theorem then yields conservation laws for the guiding-center plasma in the presence of a wave field, including the wave contribution to the stress-energy and spin angular momentum tensors.
Models of covariant linear electromagnetic constitutive relations are formulated that have wide applicability to the computation of susceptibility tensors for dispersive and inhomogeneous media. A perturbative framework is used to derive a linear constitutive relation for a globally neutral plasma enabling one to describe in this context a generalized Landau damping mechanism for non-stationary inhomogeneous plasma states.
A rigorous and most general covariant kinetic formalism is developed to study the nonlinear waves interaction in relativistic Vlasov plasmas. The typical nonlinear plasma reaction is a nonlinear current measured by the nonlinear plasma conductivity, and these quantities are derived here on the basis of relativistic Vlasov-Maxwell equations. Knowing the nonlinear plasma conductivity allows us to determine all plasma modes nonlinearly excited in plasma. The general covariant form of nonlinear conductivity is provided first for any value of plasma temperature and for the whole complex frequency p…
The magnetic connection theorem of ideal Magnetohydrodynamics by Newcomb [Newcomb W.A., Ann. Phys., 3, 347 (1958)] and its covariant formulation are rederived and reinterpreted in terms of a "time resetting" projection that accounts for the loss of simultaneity in different reference frames between spatially separated events.
The Lagrangian formulation of the scalar and spinor quantum electrodynamics (QED) in the presence of strong laser fields in a plasma medium is considered. We include the plasma influence in the free Lagrangian analogously to the "Furry picture" and obtain coupled equations of motion for the plasma particles and for the laser propagation. We demonstrate that the strong-field wave (i.e. the laser) satisfies a massive dispersion relation and obtain self-consistently the effective mass of the laser photons. The Lagrangian formulation derived in this paper is the basis for the cross sections calcul…
Following the method in Ref.(1), this paper introduces a fundamental Lagrangian 1-form on the particle's coordinates, which determines the dynamics of all ions and electrons of the magnetized plasma with low-frequency magnetic perturbations. An Ampere-Vlasov model is utilized to model this fundamental Lagrangian 1-form based on a kind of coarse-grained scheme. With the Cary-Littlejohn single-parameter Lie transform method, a new fundamental Lagrangian 1-form on the gyrocenter coordinates is derived through transforming the one on particle's coordinates. This new 1-form determines the dynamics …
Large amplitude waves in magnetized plasmas, generated either by external pumps or internal instabilities, can scatter via three-waves interactions. While three-wave scatterings in either forward or backward geometry are well-known, what happens when waves propagate at angles with one another in magnetized plasmas remains largely unknown, mainly due to the analytical difficulty of this problem. In this paper, we overcome this analytical difficulty and find a convenient formula for three-wave coupling coefficients in cold, uniform, magnetized plasmas in the most general geometry. This is achiev…
The notion of a two-point susceptibility kernel used to describe linear electromagnetic responses of dispersive continuous media in non-relativistic phenomena is generalized to accommodate the constraints required of a causal formulation in spacetimes with background gravitational fields. In particular the concepts of spatial material inhomogeneity and temporal non-stationarity are formulated within a fully covariant spacetime framework. This framework is illustrated by re-casting the Maxwell-Vlasov equations for a collisionless plasma in a form that exposes a 2-point electromagnetic susceptib…
We develop a covariant density matrix approach to kinetic theory of QED plasmas subjected into a strong external electromagnetic field. A canonical quantization of the system on space-like hyperplanes in Minkowski space and a covariant generalization of the Coulomb gauge is used. The condensate mode associated with the mean electromagnetic field is separated from the photon degrees of freedom by a time-dependent unitary transformation of both, the dynamical variables and the nonequilibrium statistical operator. Therefore even in the case of strong external fields a perturbative expansion in or…
In the single fluid, nonrelativistic, ideal-Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) plasma description magnetic field lines play a fundamental role by defining dynamically preserved "magnetic connections" between plasma elements. Here we show how the concept of magnetic connection needs to be generalized in the case of a relativistic MHD description where we require covariance under arbitrary Lorentz transformations. This is performed by defining 2-D {\it magnetic connection hypersurfaces} in the 4-D Minkowski space. This generalization accounts for the loss of simultaneity between spatially separated event…
A dynamical system framework is used to describe transport processes in plasmas embedded in a magnetic field. For periodic systems with one degree of freedom the Poincaré map provides a splitting of the phase space into regions where particles have different kinds of motion: periodic, quasi-periodic or chaotic. The boundaries of these regions are transport barriers; i.e., a trajectory cannot cross such boundaries during the whole evolution of the system. Lagrangian Coherent Structure (LCS) generalize this method to systems with the most general time dependence, splitting the phase space into r…
A mini-conference on Hamiltonian and Lagrangian methods in fluid and plasma physics was held on November 14, 2002, as part of the 44th meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society. This paper summarizes the material presented during the talks scheduled during the Mini-Conference, which was held to honor Allan Kaufman on the occasion of his 75th birthday.
The difference between the guiding center phase-space Lagrangians derived in [J.W. Burby, J. Squire, and H. Qin, Phys. Plasmas {\bf 20}, 072105 (2013)] and [F.I. Parra, and I. Calvo, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion {\bf 53}, 045001 (2011)] is due to a different definition of the guiding center coordinates. In this brief communication the difference between the guiding center coordinates is calculated explicitly.
Analysis of Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCSs) has been showed to be a valid mathematical approach to explain the formation of transport barriers in magnetized plasmas. Such LCSs, borrowed from fluid dynamics theory, can be considered as the hidden skeleton of the system and can be used for studying a wide spectrum of transport mechanisms even in plasmas. In this paper, we demonstrate that such structures can be particularly useful for underlying the hidden paths governing the motion of magnetic field lines in chaotic magnetic fields. To perform such an analysis, we developed a numerical to…
The simulation of thermochemical nonequilibrium for the atomic and molecular energy level populations in plasma flows requires a comprehensive modeling of all the elementary collisional and radiative processes involved. Coupling detailed chemical mechanisms to flow solvers is computationally expensive and often limits their application to 1D simulations. We develop an efficient Lagrangian diffusive reactor moving along the streamlines of a baseline flow simulation to compute detailed thermochemical effects. In addition to its efficiency, the method allows us to model both continuum and rarefie…
Lagrangian statistics and particle transport in edge plasma turbulence are investigated using the Hasegawa-Wakatani model and its modified version. The latter shows the emergence of pronounced zonal flows. Different values of the adiabaticity parameter are considered. The main goal is to characterize the role of coherent structures, i.e., vortices and zonal flows, and their impact on the Lagrangian statistics of particles. Computationally intensive long time simulations following ensembles of test particles over hundreds of eddy turnover times are considered in statistically stationary turbule…
Because different constraints are imposed, stability conditions for dissipationless fluids and magnetofluids may take different forms when derived within the Lagrangian, Eulerian (energy-Casimir), or dynamical accessible frameworks. This is in particular the case when flows are present. These differences are explored explicitly by working out in detail two magnetohydrodynamic examples: convection against gravity in a stratified fluid and translationally invariant perturbations of a rotating magnetized plasma pinch. In this second example we show in explicit form how to perform the time-depende…
