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Anisotropic cosmic ray diffusion in isotropic Kolmogorov turbulence
ABSTRACT

Understanding the time-scales for diffusive processes and their degree of anisotropy is essential for modelling cosmic ray transport in turbulent magnetic fields. We show that the diffusion time-scales are isotropic over a large range of energy and turbulence levels, notwithstanding the high degree of anisotropy exhibited by the components of the diffusion tensor for cases with an ordered magnetic field component. The predictive power of the classical scattering relation as a description for the relation between the parallel and perpendicular diffusion coefficients is discussed and compared to numerical simulations. Very good agreement for a large parameter space is found, transforming classical scattering relation predictions into a computational prescription for the perpendicular component. We discuss and compare these findings, in particular, the time-scales to become diffusive with the time-scales that particles reside in astronomical environments, the so-called escape time-scales. The results show that, especially at high energies, the escape times obtained from diffusion coefficients may exceed the time-scales required for diffusion. In these cases, the escape time cannot be determined by the diffusion coefficients.

Authors:
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Award ID(s):
Publication Date:
NSF-PAR ID:
10368106
Journal Name:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume:
514
Issue:
2
Page Range or eLocation-ID:
p. 2658-2666
ISSN:
0035-8711
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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