A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Analytical treatment of particle motion in circularly polarized slab-mode wave fields
Authors: Schreiner C, Vainio R, Spanier F
Publisher: CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
Publishing place: Cambridge
Publication year: 2018
Journal: Journal of Plasma Physics
Journal name in source: JOURNAL OF PLASMA PHYSICS
Journal acronym: J PLASMA PHYS
Article number: ARTN 905840104
Volume: 84
Issue: 1
Number of pages: 26
ISSN: 0022-3778
eISSN: 1469-7807
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022377817001015
Abstract
Wave-particle interaction is a key process in particle diffusion in collisionless plasmas. We look into the interaction of single plasma waves with individual particles and discuss under which circumstances this is a chaotic process, leading to diffusion. We derive the equations of motion for a particle in the fields of a magnetostatic, circularly polarized, monochromatic wave and show that no chaotic particle motion can arise under such circumstances. A novel and exact analytic solution for the equations is presented. Additional plasma waves lead to a breakdown of the analytic solution and chaotic particle trajectories become possible. We demonstrate this effect by considering a linearly polarized, monochromatic wave, which can be seen as the superposition of two circularly polarized waves. Test particle simulations are provided to illustrate and expand our analytical considerations.
Wave-particle interaction is a key process in particle diffusion in collisionless plasmas. We look into the interaction of single plasma waves with individual particles and discuss under which circumstances this is a chaotic process, leading to diffusion. We derive the equations of motion for a particle in the fields of a magnetostatic, circularly polarized, monochromatic wave and show that no chaotic particle motion can arise under such circumstances. A novel and exact analytic solution for the equations is presented. Additional plasma waves lead to a breakdown of the analytic solution and chaotic particle trajectories become possible. We demonstrate this effect by considering a linearly polarized, monochromatic wave, which can be seen as the superposition of two circularly polarized waves. Test particle simulations are provided to illustrate and expand our analytical considerations.
Keywords:
plasma simulation, plasma waves
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