Transport Properties of Plasmas in a Strong Magnetic Field

Irreversible processes in plasmas in a strong magnetic field are discussed from both phenomenological and microscopic points of view. The thermodynamics of irreversible processes is applied and it is shown that the Onsager-Casimir reciprocity relation takes a symmetrical form for plasmas in a magnetic field. For a two-component fully ionized gas where the electrons make many free gyrations interference between electrical and thermal conductions vanish. When the mean gyration radius r g of the electrons is shorter than the Debye length l D , the diagonal elements of tensors of the electric conductivity and diffusion coefficient perpendicular to the magnetic field are proportional to {aligned} ln(kTlD/Ze²)+(3/4)[ln(lD/rg)]², {aligned} where Z e and - e are the charges of an ion and electron respectively.