Abstract

A comprehensive analysis of the finite-Larmor-radius (FLR) fluid moment equations for collisionless magnetized plasmas is presented. It is based on perturbative but otherwise general solutions for the second and third rank fluid moments (the stress and stress flux tensors), with closure conditions still to be specified on the fourth rank moment. The single expansion parameter is the ratio between the largest among the gyroradii and any other characteristic length, which is assumed to be small but finite in a magnetized medium. This formalism allows a complete account of the gyroviscous stress, the pressure anisotropy, and the anisotropic heat fluxes, and is valid for arbitrary magnetic geometry, arbitrary plasma pressure, and fully electromagnetic nonlinear dynamics. As the result, very general yet notably compact perturbative systems of FLR collisionless fluid equations, applicable to either fast (sonic or Alfvénic) or slow (diamagnetic) motions, are obtained.

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