Transient thermodynamics of electromagnetic media in general relativity

This paper is devoted to a study of the constitutive equations of relativistic electromagnetic media, when submitted to transitory processes, following the causal thermodynamics of Mueller--Israel. The formalism of differential geometry is used to describe the kinematical and dynamical evolution of the medium and the thermodynamical description is given in terms of local functional relations. According to the hypothesis of Mueller--Israel, the second-order terms in the deviation from thermodynamical equilibrium are taken into account in the expression of the entropy current. The relaxation terms which then appear in the transport equations restore the causality. Several cases corresponding to various kinds of media are investigated