Hamiltonian description of low-temperature relativistic plasmas.
We develop a low-temperature fluidlike plasma model without recourse to a collisional closure. The equations are closed by treating the momentum spread asymptotically. This model inherits the Hamiltonian structure, including Casimir invariants of the Vlasov-Maxwell theory. We study temperature evolution in the wake of an intense laser pulse propagating in a plasma. We show that the momentum spread is intrinsically anisotropic and that, for conditions corresponding to recent experiments, modest heating occurs.
Shadwick
B A
BA
Institute for Advanced Physics, Suite 199, 10875 US Hwy 285, Conifer, Colorado 80433, USA. BAShadwick@IAPhysics.org
Tarkenton
G M
GM
Esarey
E H
EH