Abstract
It is well-known that the motion of a charged particle in a magnetic field is described by the drift approximation, in which it is assumed that the squared velocity of the particle and the magnetic moment of the Larmor circle are conserved. It is shown that to a first approximation a third conservation law is also satisfied: the unaveraged generalized momentum in the direction of the binormal to the reference flux line around which the particle rotates is conserved. This new conservation law makes it possible to determine additional fine details of the motion, specifically, the deflection of a particle in the direction of the normal to the reference flux line, in terms of which the known drift velocity along the binormal is expressed after averaging.
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References
B. A. Trubnikov, Theory of Plasma (Énergoatomizdat, Moscow, 1996).
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Translated from Zhurnal Éksperimental’no\(\overset{\lower0.5em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\smile}$}}{l}\) i Teoretichesko\(\overset{\lower0.5em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\smile}$}}{l}\) Fiziki, Vol. 118, No. 3, 2000, pp. 550–553.
Original Russian Text Copyright © 2000 by Trubnikov.
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Trubnikov, B.A. Conservation law for the binormal momentum in the presence of charge drift in a magnetic field. J. Exp. Theor. Phys. 91, 479–482 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1134/1.1320080
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/1.1320080