Drift kinetic equation exact through second order in gyroradius expansion

The drift kinetic equation of Hazeltine [R. D. Hazeltine, Plasma Phys. 15, 77 (1973)] for a magnetized plasma of arbitrary collisionality is widely believed to be exact through the second order in the gyroradius expansion. It is demonstrated that this equation is only exact through the first order. The reason is that when evaluating the second-order gyrophase dependent distribution function, Hazeltine neglected contributions from the first-order gyrophase dependent distribution function, and then used this incomplete expression to derive the equation for the gyrophase independent distribution function. Consequently, the second-order distribution function and the stress tensor derived by this approach are incomplete. By relaxing slightly Hazeltine's orderings one is able to obtain a drift kinetic equation accurate through the second order in the gyroradius expansion. In addition, the gyroviscous stress tensor for plasmas of arbitrary collisionality is obtained. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.