Review of heat and charge transport in strongly magnetized relativistic plasmas

TL;DR

This review analyzes how strong magnetic fields affect charge and heat transport in relativistic plasmas, highlighting anisotropic conductivities and modifications to classical transport laws.

Contribution

The paper extends field-theoretic calculations of charge transport to include thermal conductivity in strongly magnetized relativistic plasmas, revealing distinct mechanisms for longitudinal and transverse transport.

Findings

Transverse charge transport is suppressed by Landau level confinement.

Longitudinal charge transport is enhanced due to reduced scattering.

The Wiedemann--Franz law is modified in strong magnetic fields.

Abstract

We review field-theoretic studies of charge transport in hot relativistic plasmas under strong magnetic fields and extend the analysis to thermal conductivity. The calculations rely on accurately determining the fermion damping rate. Using the Landau-level representation, these damping rates are computed exactly at leading order and incorporated into the Kubo formula to obtain the thermal and electrical conductivity tensors. Our analysis reveals that the mechanisms underlying longitudinal and transverse transport differ significantly. Strong magnetic fields markedly suppress transverse charge transport by confining particles within localized Landau orbits, allowing transport only through quantum transitions between these discrete states. In contrast, longitudinal charge transport is enhanced, as it primarily depends on the reduced scattering probability of particles moving along the direction of the magnetic field. The anisotropy of thermal conductivity is also nontrivial but less pronounced since its underlying transport mechanism is different. We also examine the modification of the Wiedemann--Franz law in strongly magnetized plasmas.