Open AccessHeuristic Description of Perpendicular Transport
Author(s) -
A. Shalchi
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/1620/1/012018
Subject(s) - perpendicular , heuristic , limit (mathematics) , statistical physics , diffusion , physics , random walk , simple (philosophy) , field (mathematics) , magnetic field , line (geometry) , mathematics , theoretical physics , mathematical analysis , mathematical optimization , geometry , statistics , quantum mechanics , pure mathematics , philosophy , epistemology
The problem of the transport of energetic particles across a mean magnetic field is known since more than 50 years. Previous attempts to describe perpendicular transport theoretically were either based on complicated non-linear theories or computationally expensive simulations. In either case it remained unclear how particles really experience perpendicular transport. In this paper I will present a heuristic approach to solve this problem. Simple arguments will lead to several formulas for the perpendicular diffusion coefficient. These formulas include well-known cases such as compound sub-diffusion and the field line random walk limit but also newer cases such as the collisionless Rechester and Rosenbluth limit. Furthermore, analytical theories such as NLGC and UNLT theories contain a correction factor a 2 which is often assumed to be 1/3. The heuristic approach discussed in this article explains this value as well.