Cosmic-ray pitch-angle scattering in imbalanced MHD turbulence simulations

Abstract

Pitch-angle scattering rates for cosmic-ray particles in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations with imbalanced turbulence are calculated for fully evolving electromagnetic turbulence. We compare with theoretical predictions derived from the quasilinear theory of cosmic-ray diffusion for an idealized slab spectrum and demonstrate how cross helicity affects the shape of the pitch-angle diffusion coefficient. Additional simulations in evolving magnetic fields or static field configurations provide evidence that the scattering anisotropy in imbalanced turbulence is not primarily due to coherence with propagating Alfven waves, but an effect of the spatial structure of electric fields in cross-helical MHD turbulence.

13 pages, 15 figures. Accepted by ApJ

References in corpus (2)

• Role of cross helicity in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence
• Acceleration of Particles in Imbalanced Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence

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