This article is cited in 37 papers

100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF V L GINZBURG. REVIEWS OF TOPICAL PROBLEMS

Analytical theory of self-consistent current structures in a collisionless plasma

V. V. Kocharovsky^ab, Vl. V. Kocharovsky^a, V. Yu. Martyanov^a, S. V. Tarasov<sup>a

a</sup> Institute of Applied Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nizhny Novgorod
^b Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University

Abstract: The most-studied classes of exact solutions to Vlasov – Maxwell equations for stationary neutral current structures in a collisionless relativistic plasma, which allow the particle distribution functions (PDFs) to be chosen at will, are reviewed. A general classification is presented of the current sheets and filaments described by the method of invariants of motion of particles whose PDF is symmetric in a certain way in coordinate and momentum spaces. The possibility is discussed of using these explicit solutions to model the observed and/or expected features of current structures in cosmic and laboratory plasmas. Also addressed are how the magnetic field forms and the analytical description of the so-called Weibel instability in a plasma with an arbitrary PDF.

Keywords: neutral current structures, collisionless relativistic plasma, invariants of motion, kinetic theory, magnetosphere.

PACS: 52.30.-q, 52.35.-g, 94.30.-d

Received: June 15, 2016
Revised: August 16, 2016
Accepted: August 21, 2016

DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.2016.08.037893

 English version: Physics–Uspekhi, 2016, 59:12, 1165–1210

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