Thermoelectric Conduction in General Relativity: A Causal, Stable, and Well Posed Theory

Abstract

We present a covariantly stable first-order framework for describing charge and heat transport in isotropic rigid media embedded in curved spacetime. Working in the Lorenz gauge, we show that the associated initial value problem is both causal and locally well-posed in the fully nonlinear regime. We then apply such framework to explore a range of gravitothermoelectric effects in metals undergoing relativistic acceleration. These include (1) the separation of charge through acceleration, (2) the non-uniformity of Joule heating across accelerating circuits due to time dilation, and (3) the effect of redshift on magnetic diffusion. As an astrophysical application, we derive a relativistic Thomas-Fermi equation governing the charge distribution inside a compact object, also accounting for Seebeck charge displacements driven by cooling.

6 pages and 5 figures (main text) + 6 pages and 1 figure (supplementary material), published in PRL (see https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/b2k6-thdy)

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