2024/04/01 by Tyler Trent, Karin Roley, Trent, Tyler +7 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph) #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2404.01391
openalex publication_date 2024/04/01 · openalex created_date 2024/04/05 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Low density plasmas in curved spacetimes, such as those found in accretion flows around black holes, are challenging to model from first principles, owing to the large scale separation between the characteristic scales of the microscopic processes and large mean-free-paths comparable to the system sizes. Kinetic approaches become necessary to capture the relevant physics but lack the dynamic range to model the global characteristics of the systems. In this paper, we develop new covariant guiding center equations of motion for charges in general relativistic spacetimes that are computationally tractable. We decompose the particle motion into a fast gyration, which we integrate analytically and a slow drift of the guiding center, which can be solved numerically. We derive covariant conservation laws for the motions of the guiding centers and show, through a number of limiting cases, that the equations contain all known drift mechanisms. Finally, we present the general relativistic expressions for the various drift velocities in Schwarzschild spacetimes.