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Detailed analytical investigation of magnetic field line random walk in turbulent plasmas: I. Two-component slab/two-dimensional turbulence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2008

I. KOURAKIS
Affiliation:
Centre for Plasma Physics, Queen's University, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, UK (i.kourakis@qub.ac.uk)
A. SHALCHI
Affiliation:
Institut für Theoretische Physik IV, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany

Abstract

The random displacement of magnetic field lines in the presence of magnetic turbulence in plasmas is investigated from first principles. A two-component (slab/two-dimensional composite) model for the turbulence spectrum is employed. An analytical investigation of the asymptotic behavior of the field-line mean square displacement (FL-MSD) is carried out. It is shown that the magnetic field lines behave superdiffusively for very large values of the position variable z, since the FL-MSD σ varies as σ ~ z4/3. An intermediate diffusive regime may also possibly exist for finite values of z under conditions which are explicitly determined in terms of the intrinsic turbulent plasma parameters. The superdiffusive asymptotic result is confirmed numerically via an iterative algorithm. The relevance to previous results is discussed.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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