2001/03/08 by A. Hoell, Hoell, A., V. G. Morozov +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Optical properties and cooling technologies in crystalline materials #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph) #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Statistical Mechanics and Entropy #hep-th #physics.plasm-ph #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.physics/0103021
30 pages, Latex
openalex publication_date 2001/03/08 · arxiv created 2001/06/01 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We develop a covariant density matrix approach to kinetic theory of QED plasmas subjected into a strong external electromagnetic field. A canonical quantization of the system on space-like hyperplanes in Minkowski space and a covariant generalization of the Coulomb gauge is used. The condensate mode associated with the mean electromagnetic field is separated from the photon degrees of freedom by a time-dependent unitary transformation of both, the dynamical variables and the nonequilibrium statistical operator. Therefore even in the case of strong external fields a perturbative expansion in orders of the fine structure constant for the correlation functions as well as the statistical operator is applicable. A general scheme for deriving kinetic equations in the hyperplane formalism is presented.