On Simplified Numerical Turbulence Models in Test-particle Simulations

Abstract

Using the conventional approach of superposing plane waves, it is not possible to create a strictly isotropic turbulent magnetic field structure that obeys all physical constraints, which are (i) equal mean of all magnetic field components; (ii) isotropy of the wave vectors; and (iii) vanishing divergence of the magnetic field. Such magnetic fields are widely implemented in test-particle Monte-Carlo simulations, which are used to obtain (i) scattering mean free paths of charged particles; (ii) field line diffusion coefficients. It is shown that, while the turbulent magnetic field strength plays an important role for the results, such does not seem to be the case for a non-zero magnetic field divergence and/or the isotropy of the wave vectors.