Irreversibility and Entropy Exclusion in Collisionless Plasmas

Read full text
Authors: Alexander G. Tevzadze
Cited by: 0

Abstract

We examine entropy production in reduced descriptions of collisionless plasmas. Introducing a closure dependent entropy hierarchy, we show that non-conservative moment closures generate a residual entropy associated with irreversible information loss, whereas invariant closures remain reversible. The monotonic growth of this residual entropy imposes a statistical realizability constraint on macroscopic plasma states, excluding regions of phase space independent of dynamical stability. For anisotropic plasmas, we evaluate entropy production within a second-order moment closure, identifying contributions from transport and magnetic field inhomogeneity. The resulting entropy exclusion boundary is broadly consistent with observed anisotropy distributions in space plasmas. Statistical realizability thus emerges as an organizing principle for reduced collisionless plasma descriptions.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory Magnetic confinement fusion research Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics

Publication details

Journal / source
arXiv (Cornell University)
Publication date
1 February 2026
Document type
Preprint