Chaotic magnetic fields: Particle motion and energization

Abstract

Magnetic field line equations correspond to a Hamiltonian dynamical system, so the features of a Hamiltonian systems can easily be adopted for discussing some essential features of magnetic field lines. The integrability of the magnetic field line equations are discussed by various authors and it can be shown that these equations are, in general, not integrable. We demonstrate several examples of realistic chaotic magnetic fields, produced by asymmetric current configurations. Particular examples of chaotic force-free field and non force-free fields are shown. We have studied, for the first time, the motion of a charged particle in chaotic magnetic fields. It is found that the motion of a charged particle in a chaotic magnetic field is not necessarily chaotic. We also showed that charged particles moving in a time-dependent chaotic magnetic field are energized. Such energization processes could play a dominant role in particle energization in several astrophysical environments including solar corona, solar flares and cosmic ray propagation in space.