Diffusion of energetic particles in turbulent magnetohydrodynamic plasmas

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the transport of energetic particles in turbulent plasmas. A numerical approach is used to simulate the effect of the background plasma on the motion of energetic protons. The background plasma is in a dynamically turbulent state found from numerical magnetohydrodynamic simulations, where we use parameters typical for the heliosphere. The implications for the transport parameters (i.e., pitch-angle diffusion coefficients and mean free path) are calculated and deviations from the quasi-linear theory are discussed. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..