Relativistic Guiding-Center Motion: Action Principle, Kinetic Theory and Hydrodynamics

Abstract

We treat the guiding-center dynamics in a varying external Maxwell field using a relativistically covariant action principle which reproduces the known Vandervoort expression for the drift velocity and extends it to curved spacetime. We derive the corresponding kinetic theory and ideal hydrodynamic theory. In contrast to conventional five-equation hydrodynamics, the guiding-center hydrodynamics needs only three equations due to a constraint on the motion across magnetic field. We argue that such a hydrodynamics is applicable to strongly coupled plasmas where kinetic theory fails.