Finite-Larmor-radius kinetic theory of a magnetized plasma in the macroscopic flow reference frame

A straightforward operator method is used to derive a form of the drift-kinetic equation for a collisionless plasma species in the moving reference frame of its macroscopic flow. This equation is valid for sonic time scales and flow velocities, with first-order finite-Larmor-radius effects included. It applies rigorously to far-from-Maxwellian distribution functions and to general space and time variations of the magnetic field. Its velocity moments are shown to reproduce exactly the corresponding fluid equations obtained from moments of the full Vlasov equation. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.