Published September 1981 | Version v1
Journal article

Hamiltonian formulation of guiding center motion

  • 1. Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720

Description

A Hamiltonian theory of guiding center motion which uses rectangular coordinates in physical space and noncanonical coordinates in phase space is presented. The averaging methods preserve two important features of Hamiltonian systems, viz., conservation of energy (for time-independent fields) and Liouville's theorem. These features are sacrificed by the traditional averaging methods. The methods also relieve much of the burden of higher order perturbation calculations, and the drift equations for fully electromagnetic fields are extended to one higher order than they have been known in the past. The first correction to the relativistic magnetic moment is also calculated. Many applications are anticipated, both to single particle motion and to kinetic theory

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Phys. Fluids
Journal Volume
24
Journal Issue
9
Series
Phys. Fluids.
Journal Page Range
1730-1749
ISSN
0031-9171

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
United States
INIS RN
13646304
Subject category
S70: PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY;
Descriptors DEI
COORDINATES; ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS; GUIDING-CENTER APPROXIMATION; HAMILTONIANS; PERTURBATION THEORY; PHASE SPACE; PLASMA; PLASMA DRIFT
Descriptors DEC
MATHEMATICAL OPERATORS; MATHEMATICAL SPACE; QUANTUM OPERATORS; SPACE