Hydrodynamic modes in a magnetized chiral plasma with vorticity

Abstract

By making use of a covariant formulation of the chiral kinetic theory in the relaxation-time approximation, we derive the first-order dissipative hydrodynamics equations for a charged chiral plasma with background electromagnetic fields. We identify the global equilibrium state for a rotating chiral plasma confined to a cylindrical region with realistic boundary conditions. Then, by using linearized hydrodynamic equations, supplemented by the Maxwell equations, we study hydrodynamic modes of magnetized rotating chiral plasma in the regimes of high temperature and high density. We find that, in both regimes, dynamical electromagnetism has profound effects on the spectrum of propagating modes. In particular, there are only the sound and Alfvén waves in the regime of high temperature, and the plasmons and helicons at high density. We also show that the chiral magnetic wave is universally overdamped because of high electrical conductivity in plasma that causes an efficient screening of charge fluctuations. The physics implications of the main results are briefly discussed.