Research Department Plasmas with Complex Interactions

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TP4

PROF. YURI LITVINENKO

Prof. Dr. Yuri Litvinenko from the University of Waikato, New Zealand, has been a guest at TP4/FOR1048 since 11.2.2013 and will give a talk on "A Numerical Study of Diffusive Cosmic-Ray Transport with Adiabatic Focusing" on Thursday, 14.02.2013, starting at 11.00 in NB 7/67. Interested parties are welcome to attend!

FOR 1048


ABSTRACT: Focused particle transport in a nonuniform large-scale magnetic field is investigated numerically in the case of isotropic pitch-angle scattering. Evolving particle density profiles and distribution moments are computed from solutions of a system of stochastic differential equivalent to the original Fokker-Planck equation for the particle distribution. Conflicting analytical predictions for the transport coefficients in the diffusion limit, independently calculated by Beeck & Wibberenz and Shalchi, are compared with the numerical results. The reasons for the discrepancies among the analytical and numerical treatments, as well as the general limitations of the diffusion model, are discussed. The telegraph equation, derived in a higher-order expansion of the particle distribution function is shown to describe the particle transport much more accurately than the diffusion model, especially ahead of a moving density pulse.