Numerical simulation and visualization of stochastic and ordered electron motion forced by electrostatic waves in a magnetized plasma

The interaction of electrons with strong electrostatic waves and an external magnetic field, which is oriented obliquely to the wave vector, leads to stochastic acceleration and acceleration by the cross-field transport of trapped electrons. This wave-particle interaction involves three velocity components of the electrons and, for a plane wave, one spatial position. The phase-space evolution is also affected by nonlinear oscillations in the amplitude of the saturated wave, and the system becomes explicitly time dependent. Here, the wave-particle interactions are investigated with a particle-in-cell simulation, and the results are visualized by examining orbits of individual electrons and also time-evolving phase-space structures. Two clearly distinct electron populations are identified, one due to cross-field transport and the other due to stochastic interactions, which are robust against growing secondary modes