Lagrangian and Hamiltonian constraints for guiding-center Hamiltonian theories
- Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, 85748 Garching (Germany)
- Department of Physics, Saint Michael's College, Colchester, Vermont 05439 (United States)
A consistent guiding-center Hamiltonian theory is derived by Lie-transform perturbation method, with terms up to second order in magnetic-field nonuniformity. Consistency is demonstrated by showing that the guiding-center transformation presented here satisfies separate Jacobian and Lagrangian constraints that have not been explored before. A new first-order term appearing in the guiding-center phase-space Lagrangian is identified through a calculation of the guiding-center polarization. It is shown that this new polarization term also yields a simpler expression of the guiding-center toroidal canonical momentum, which satisfies an exact conservation law in axisymmetric magnetic geometries. Finally, an application of the guiding-center Lagrangian constraint on the guiding-center Hamiltonian yields a natural interpretation for its higher-order corrections.
- OSTI ID:
- 22489841
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 22, Issue 11; Other Information: (c) 2015 EURATOM; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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