If charged particles move through the interplanetary or interstellar medium, they interact with a large-scale magnetic ?eld such as the magnetic ?eld of the Sun or the Galactic magnetic ?eld. As these background ?elds are usually nearly constant in time and space, they can be approximated by a homogeneous ?eld. If there are no additional ?elds, the particle trajectory is a perfect helix along which the par- cle moves at a constant speed. In reality, however, there are turbulent electric and magnetic?elds dueto the interstellaror solar wind plasma. These ?elds lead to sc- tering of the cosmic rays parallel and perpendicular to the background ?eld. These scattering effects, which usually are of diffusive nature, can be described by s- tial diffusion coef?cients or, alternatively, by mean free paths. The knowledge of these parameters is essential for describing cosmic ray propagation as well as d- fusive shock acceleration. The latter process is responsible for the high cosmic ray energies that have been observed. The layout of this book is as follows. In Chap. 1, the general physical scenario is presented. We discuss fundamental processes such as cosmic ray propagation and acceleration in different systems such as the solar system or the interst- lar space. These processes are a consequence of the interaction between charged cosmic particles and an astrophysical plasma (turbulence). The properties of such plasmas are therefore the subject of Chap. 2.

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Bibliographic Information

Book Title: Nonlinear Cosmic Ray Diffusion Theories
Authors: Andreas Shalchi
Series Title: Astrophysics and Space Science Library
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00309-7
Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-642-00308-0Published: 24 June 2009
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-642-10139-7Published: 22 October 2010
eBook ISBN: 978-3-642-00309-7Published: 04 June 2009
Series ISSN: 0067-0057
Series E-ISSN: 2214-7985
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIII, 199
Number of Illustrations: 49 b/w illustrations
Topics: Astrophysics and Astroparticles, Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics, Space Exploration and Astronautics), Particle and Nuclear Physics, Particle Acceleration and Detection, Beam Physics, Atoms and Molecules in Strong Fields, Laser Matter Interaction, Plasma Physics

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

Front Matter

Back Matter

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