Energetic particle transport across the mean magnetic field: before diffusion

Abstract

Current particle transport models describe the propagation of charged particles across the mean field direction in turbulent plasmas as diffusion. However, recent studies suggest that at short time-scales, such as soon after solar energetic particle (SEP) injection, particles remain on turbulently meandering field lines, which results in non-diffusive initial propagation across the mean magnetic field. In this work, we use a new technique to investigate how the particles are displaced from their original field lines, and quantify the parameters of the transition from field-aligned particle propagation along meandering field lines to particle diffusion across the mean magnetic field. We show that the initial decoupling of the particles from the field lines is slow, and particles remain within a Larmor radius from their initial meandering field lines for tens to hundreds of Larmor periods, for 0.1-10 MeV protons in turbulence conditions typical of the solar wind at 1~AU. Subsequently, particles decouple from their initial field lines and after hundreds to thousands of Larmor periods reach time-asymptotic diffusive behaviour consistent with particle diffusion across the mean field caused by the meandering of the field lines. We show that the typical duration of the pre-diffusive phase, hours to tens of hours for 10 MeV protons in 1~AU solar wind turbulence conditions, is significant for SEP propagation to 1~AU and must be taken into account when modelling SEP propagation in the interplanetary space.

arXiv comment10 pages, 7 figures; Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal

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• Perpendicular Diffusion of Solar Energetic Particles: Model Results and Implications for Electrons
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• Catalogue of >55 MeV Wide-longitude Solar Proton Events Observed by SOHO, ACE, and the STEREOs at $\approx$1 AU during 2009-2016
• A Primer on Focused Solar Energetic Particle Transport: Basic physics and recent modelling results
• Magnetic Field Line Random Walk and Solar Energetic Particle Path Lengths: Stochastic Theory and PSP/ISoIS Observation
• Random Walk and Trapping of Interplanetary Magnetic Field Lines: Global Simulation, Magnetic Connectivity, and Implications for Solar Energetic Particles
• Early propagation of energetic particles across the mean field in turbulent plasmas
• Bi-directional streaming of particles accelerated at the STEREO-A shock on 9th March 2008