Perpendicular Transport of Charged Particles in Composite Model Turbulence: Recovery of Diffusion

Abstract

The computation of charged particle orbits in model turbulent magnetic fields is used to investigate the properties of particle transport in the directions perpendicular to the large-scale magnetic field. Recent results by Qin, Matthaeus, & Bieber demonstrate that parallel scattering suppresses perpendicular diffusion to a subdiffusive level when the turbulence lacks transverse structure. Here numerical computations are used to show that in turbulence in which there is substantial transverse structure, a second regime of diffusive transport can be established. In both the subdiffusion regime and this ``second diffusion'' regime, perpendicular transport is intrinsically nonlinear. The regime of second diffusion persists for long times and may therefore be of interest in astrophysical transport problems such as the scattering and solar modulation of cosmic rays.