Beyond Force-free Electrodynamics: Effective Field Theory and Bosonization

Force-free electrodynamics (FFE) is a closed set of equations for the electromagnetic field of a magnetically dominated plasma. There are strong arguments for the existence of force-free plasmas near pulsars and active black holes, but FFE alone cannot account for the observational signatures, such as coherent radio emission and relativistic jets and winds. I will describe two approaches to going beyond FFE: effective field theory of a cold string plasma (w/ N. Iqbal) and bosonization on the lowest Landau level.