Neutral Vlasov kinetic theory of magnetized plasmas

TL;DR

This paper develops a variational formulation of the neutral Vlasov kinetic theory for magnetized plasmas, capturing essential collisionless plasma dynamics while neglecting radiation effects, and compares it with hybrid models.

Contribution

It introduces a variational formulation of the neutral Vlasov system using Euler-Poincaré reduction, unifying collisionless plasma models within a consistent theoretical framework.

Findings

The neutral Vlasov system recovers all collisionless neutral models used in plasma simulations.

Comparisons show the neutral Vlasov system aligns with hybrid kinetic-fluid models in the linear regime.

The model neglects radiation effects but captures key plasma dynamics.

Abstract

The low-frequency limit of Maxwell equations is considered in the Maxwell-Vlasov system. This limit produces a neutral Vlasov system that captures essential features of plasma dynamics, while neglecting radiation effects. Euler-Poincar\'e reduction theory is used to show that the neutral Vlasov kinetic theory possesses a variational formulation in both Lagrangian and Eulerian coordinates. By construction, the model recovers all collisionless neutral models employed in plasma simulations. Then, comparisons between the neutral Vlasov system and hybrid kinetic-fluid models are presented in the linear regime.