Nonlinear Perturbation Theory for Cosmic Ray Propagation in Random Magnetic Fields

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

74

Scientific paper

A nonlinear perturbation theory is applied to the problem of pitch angle diffusion of energetic particles in random magnetic fields. To keep the analysis simple, the discussion is restricted to fluctuation fields, consisting of Alfvén waves. It is shown that the failure of quasilinear theory at small particle velocities parallel to the average field can be overcome by a statistically exact treatment of the particle orbits in the first order fields. In fact, for spherical power spectra which, in addition, do not fall off too steeply with increasing frequency, the conventional perturbation theory also leads to formally convergent expressions for the scattering mean free path. These results are shown to be quite satisfactory, even in a quantitative sense. For more general physically realistic power spectra, however, a divergence-free diffusion theory is indispensible. A simple representation for the resulting pitch-angle diffusion coefficient is suggested.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Nonlinear Perturbation Theory for Cosmic Ray Propagation in Random Magnetic Fields does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Nonlinear Perturbation Theory for Cosmic Ray Propagation in Random Magnetic Fields, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Nonlinear Perturbation Theory for Cosmic Ray Propagation in Random Magnetic Fields will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1311893

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.