The ideal magnetohydrodynamic theorem on the conservation of the magnetic connections between plasma elements is generalized to relativistic plasmas in curved spacetime. The connections between plasma elements, which are established by a covariant connection equation, display a particularly complex structure in curved spacetime. Nevertheless, it is shown that these connections can be interpreted in terms of magnetic field lines alone by adopting a $3+1$ foliation of spacetime.

• Received 24 October 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.96.123004