Speaker
Description
We treat the guiding-center dynamics in a varying external Maxwell field using a relativistically covariant action principle with a constraint. We find that the formalism naturally reproduces Vandervoort’s nontrivial expression for the drift velocity and extends the theory to curved spacetime — an advancement previously out of reach. Building on this foundation we derive the corresponding kinetic theory and hydrodynamic theory in the ideal limit. Unlike conventional five-equation hydrodynamics, the constrained nature of guiding-center motion across magnetic field lines reduces the system to just three independent equations. We further argue that this form of constrained hydrodynamics is applicable to strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma, where kinetic theory breaks down.
