Spontaneous generation of a temperature anisotropy in a strongly coupled magnetized plasma

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that in strongly coupled magnetized plasmas, magnetic fields inhibit temperature isotropization, leading to persistent temperature anisotropies, which are effectively modeled by an extended heat equation.

Contribution

It reveals the magnetic field's role in sustaining temperature anisotropies by inhibiting isotropization in strongly coupled plasmas, supported by an extended heat equation model.

Findings

Magnetic fields enhance field-parallel heat conduction.

Cross-field conduction is reduced in magnetized plasmas.

Temperature anisotropies can be long-lived and are accurately modeled by an extended heat equation.

Abstract

A magnetic field was recently shown to enhance field-parallel heat conduction in a strongly correlated plasma whereas cross-field conduction is reduced. Here we show that in such plasmas, the magnetic field has the additional effect of inhibiting the isotropization process between field-parallel and cross-field temperature components thus leading to the emergence of strong and long-lived temperature anisotropies when the plasma is locally perturbed. An extended heat equation is shown to describe this process accurately.