Fundamental Topics In Relativistic Fluid Mechanics And Magnetohydrodynamics

This book is primarily intended to enable postgraduate research students to enhance their understanding and expertise in Fluid Mechanics and Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), subjects no longer treated in isolation. The exercises throughout the book often serve to provide additional and quite significant knowledge or to develop selected mathematical skills, and may also fill in certain details or enhance readers’ understanding of essential concepts. A previous background or some preliminary reading in either of the two core subjects would be advantageous, and prior knowledge of multivariate calculus and differential equations is expected.

A unified and systematic treatment of the main results and techniques of relativistic fluid dynamics with an emphasis on waves and shock waves. The first four chapters provide an introduction to the fundamental principles of relativistic fluid dynamics and magneto-fluids. The remaining chapters present specific topics, including non-linear electromagnetic waves in relativistic cold plasmas, relativistic asymptotic waves, and relativistic shock waves. Examples of the applications of the theory to plasma physics, nuclear physics and astrophysics are presented.

A unified and systematic treatment of the main results and techniques of relativistic fluid dynamics with an emphasis on waves and shock waves. The first four chapters provide an introduction to the fundamental principles of relativistic fluid dynamics and magneto-fluids. The remaining chapters present specific topics, including non-linear electromagnetic waves in relativistic cold plasmas, relativistic asymptotic waves, and relativistic shock waves. Examples of the applications of the theory to plasma physics, nuclear physics and astrophysics are presented.

This text focuses on conservation laws in magnetohydrodynamics, gasdynamics and hydrodynamics. A grasp of new conservation laws is essential in fusion and space plasmas, as well as in geophysical fluid dynamics; they can be used to test numerical codes, or to reveal new aspects of the underlying physics, e.g., by identifying the time history of the fluid elements as an important key to understanding fluid vorticity or in investigating the stability of steady flows. The ten Galilean Lie point symmetries of the fundamental action discussed in this book give rise to the conservation of energy, momentum, angular momentum and center of mass conservation laws via Noether’s first theorem. The advected invariants are related to fluid relabeling symmetries – so-called diffeomorphisms associated with the Lagrangian map – and are obtained by applying the Euler-Poincare approach to Noether’s second theorem. The book discusses several variants of helicity including kinetic helicity, cross helicity, magnetic helicity, Ertels’ theorem and potential vorticity, the Hollman invariant, and the Godbillon Vey invariant. The book develops the non-canonical Hamiltonian approach to MHD using the non-canonical Poisson bracket, while also refining the multisymplectic approach to ideal MHD and obtaining novel nonlocal conservation laws. It also briefly discusses Anco and Bluman’s direct method for deriving conservation laws. A range of examples is used to illustrate topological invariants in MHD and fluid dynamics, including the Hopf invariant, the Calugareanu invariant, the Taylor magnetic helicity reconnection hypothesis for magnetic fields in highly conducting plasmas, and the magnetic helicity of Alfvén simple waves, MHD topological solitons, and the Parker Archimedean spiral magnetic field. The Lagrangian map is used to obtain a class of solutions for incompressible MHD. The Aharonov-Bohm interpretation of magnetic helicity and cross helicity is discussed. In closing, examples of magnetosonic N-waves are used to illustrate the role of the wave number and group velocity concepts for MHD waves. This self-contained and pedagogical guide to the fundamentals will benefit postgraduate-level newcomers and seasoned researchers alike.

Explains the motivation and reviewing the classical theory in a new form; Discusses conservation laws and Euler equations; For one-dimensional cases, the models presented are completely integrable