On the validity of the guiding-center approximation in a magnetic dipole field

Abstract

The problem of the charged-particle motion in an axisymmetric magnetic-dipole geometry is used to assess the validity of Hamiltonian guiding-center theory, which includes higher-order corrections associated with guiding-center polarization induced by magnetic-field nonuniformity. When a magnetically confined charged-particle orbit is regular (i.e., its guiding-center magnetic moment is adiabatically invariant), the guiding-center approximation, which conserves both energy and azimuthal canonical angular momentum, is shown to be faithful to the particle orbit when guiding-center polarization effects are taken into account.