Seminar in Hadronic Physics

Relativistic magnetohydrodynamics: foundations, stability and solutions

Masoud Shorki

Goethe University

Relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) effectively describes the mutual evolution of fluid and electromagnetic fields. Its basic equations are based on the conservation of charges, including the electric charge and energy-momentum, together with the Maxwell equations. Although the Maxwell equations, and the Maxwell energy-momentum tensor, are rigorously known, the formulation of the dissipative contributions to the energy-momentum tensor and charge currents is a nontrivial task. In this talk, I discuss various approaches to the formulation of resistive dissipative MHD and its extensions. Then, I explain how external and dynamic electromagnetic fields modify equilibrium conditions. Finally, I briefly introduce some analytical solutions to non-dissipative MHD as well as recent developments in numerical solutions to second-order resistive and dissipative MHD.