The anisorrhopic guiding-center fluid (Q794883)

The object of this work is to develop a general theory of ''finite-orbit effects'' in a two-dimensional guiding-center plasma. The macroscopic motion of the plasma is represented on the basis of a simple incompressible one-fluid model and the guiding-center motions of a single particle are referred to a Lagrangian coordinate network comoving with the representative fluid. After a reduction to comoving coordinates the drift equations split themselves off from the fluid equation and are independent of the fluid equations (autonomy theorem). Problems of wave- propagation and stability are studied. It is shown that, in general, there are two independent sets of wave modes relative to the fixed coordinate frame, and in the guiding-center motion relative to the network. Though the stability conditions against both sets are found to be quite stringent, yet a reasonably extensive class of stable solutions is shown to exist.