An extended irreversible thermodynamic description of dielectric and magnetic relaxation in a thermal and viscous plasma

Within the framework of Extended Irreversible Thermodynamics (EIT) a phenomenological theory is proposed for a polarizable and magnetizable plasma in an electromagnetic field. In particular, for the polarization a transport equation is proposed generalizing the well-established Debye's law for dielectric relaxation. For the magnetization a transport equation is proposed generalizing the well-established Langevin's law for magnetic relaxation. The present equations correspond to those obtained by Dixon involving also coupling terms with the heat ¯ux. Finally, in the special case in which cross-effects are not taken into account, the dispersion relation for plane weak electromagnetic disturbances is derived.