A GENERALIZED NONLINEAR GUIDING CENTER THEORY FOR THE COLLISIONLESS ANOMALOUS PERPENDICULAR DIFFUSION OF COSMIC RAYS
- Department of Physics, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899 (United States)
- Center of Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899 (United States)
- Institute fur Theoretische Physik, Lehrstuhl IV: Weltraum und Astrophysik, Ruhr Universitat, D-44780 Bochum (Germany)
The original nonlinear guiding center (NLGC) theory by Matthaeus et al. was a breakthrough in establishing a theory that promised to reproduce for the first time the anomalous perpendicular diffusion results from test particle trajectory calculations in prescribed static magnetic field turbulence dominated by a two-dimensional component. The assumptions used in this approach guaranteed anomalous diffusion to be a classical process (the variance ({Delta}x {sup 2}) {proportional_to} ({Delta}t){sup {alpha}} with {alpha} = 1). However, Shalchi and Kourakis showed that similar calculations can be even better reproduced within the context of a generalized compound diffusion model for anomalous perpendicular diffusion whereby anomalous diffusion is nonclassical (0 < {alpha} < 1 (subdiffusion) or 1 < {alpha} < 2 (superdiffusion)). In this paper, it is shown how NLGC theory can be generalized to model compound diffusion conditions consistent with the generalized compound diffusion model in terms of a nonuniform plasma medium. Such a medium is assumed to generate a distribution of cosmic-ray pitch-angle scattering times for cosmic rays interacting resonantly with a minor small-scale slab turbulence component. This suggests that the anomalous perpendicular diffusion from the test particle simulations might be explained best within the framework of anomalous diffusion in a nonuniform plasma medium. It is argued that, during intermediate times when the magnetic field appears to be static in the quiet solar wind near Earth, generalized NLGC theory predicts possibly subdiffusive anomalous perpendicular transport for intermediate-energy (E << 400-500 MeV) cosmic rays because they experience nonuniform scattering conditions. These conditions are suggested to be a product of stochastic wave growth of small-scale slab turbulence resulting intermittently in large patches of intense slab turbulence where scattering times are reduced and cosmic rays are trapped. Classical anomalous diffusion is expected to be restored at high cosmic-ray energies (E >> 400-500 MeV) in accordance with original NLGC theory because they encounter more uniform scattering conditions due to weaker stochastic wave growth. Magnetic turbulence observations near Earth during 2003 were used to show that the solar wind can be characterized as a nonuniform medium sustaining a power-law distribution of cosmic-ray pitch-angle scattering times. However, application of generalized NLGC theory to the 2003 observations produced unexpectedly a negative exponent for the variance of the anomalous diffusion ({alpha} < 0). This indicates that particle bunching occurs as cosmic rays are trapped in plasma regions associated with strong particle scattering. Such effects can plausibly be explained by the intermittent presence of strong compressive turbulence downstream of shocks, stream, and interaction regions.
- OSTI ID:
- 21451100
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 716, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/716/1/671; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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