A field theory approach to the evolution of canonical helicity and energy

Journal Article · Fri Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4956465· OSTI ID:22600039

You, S. ^[1]

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1. William E. Boeing Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 (United States)

A redefinition of the Lagrangian of a multi-particle system in fields reformulates the single-particle, kinetic, and fluid equations governing fluid and plasma dynamics as a single set of generalized Maxwell's equations and Ohm's law for canonical force-fields. The Lagrangian includes new terms representing the coupling between the motion of particle distributions, between distributions and electromagnetic fields, with relativistic contributions. The formulation shows that the concepts of self-organization and canonical helicity transport are applicable across single-particle, kinetic, and fluid regimes, at classical and relativistic scales. The theory gives the basis for comparing canonical helicity change to energy change in general systems. For example, in a fixed, isolated system subject to non-conservative forces, a species' canonical helicity changes less than total energy only if gradients in density or distribution function are shallow.

• OSTI ID: 22600039
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 7; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DENSITY
DISTRIBUTION
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
EQUATIONS
FIELD THEORIES
FLUID MECHANICS
HELICITY
LAGRANGIAN FUNCTION
PARTICLES
PLASMA
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
TRANSPORT THEORY