Loading loss-cone distributions in particle simulations
arXiv:2309.06879 · doi:10.1029/2023JA031983
Abstract
Numerical procedures to generate random variates that follow loss-cone velocity distributions in particle simulations are presented. We propose a simple summation algorithm for the Ashour-Abdalla--Kennel-type loss-cone distribution, also known as the subtracted Maxwellian. For the Dory-type loss-cone distribution, we use a random variate for the gamma distribution. Extending earlier algorithms for the kappa and Dory-type distributions, we construct a novel algorithm to generate a popular form of a kappa loss-cone distribution. To better express the loss cone, we discuss another family of loss-cone distributions based on the pitch angle. In addition to the acceptance-rejection method, we propose two transformation algorithms that convert an isotropic distribution into a loss-cone distribution. This allows us to generate loss-cone and kappa loss-cone distributions from the Maxwell and kappa distributions.
To appear in JGR Space Physics; Jupyter notebook is attached to the gzipped tar file in the "Other formats" link