Kineclinic magnetogenesis in relativistic collisionless plasmas
Abstract
The relativistic momentum equation of a collisionless plasma is reformulated to describe the time evolution of canonical vorticity. Compared to the nonrelativistic counterpart, an additional source term for canonical vorticity is identified, which embodies the misalignment between the fluid momentum and fluid velocity gradients. This kineclinic term breaks the frozen-in condition of canonical vorticity, thereby enabling the generation or dissipation of magnetic fields and vorticity. We verify the role of this effect through particle-in-cell simulations of a kineclinic flow. Kineclinicity is generically expected in relativistic plasma kinetic plasmas lacking a functional relationship between fluid momentum and fluid velocity.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Dust and Plasma Wave Phenomena
Magnetic confinement fusion research
Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Physical Review Research
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 2
- Publication date
- 9 May 2026
- Language
- EN