Cosmic-ray transport in accelerating flows

Abstract

The quasi-linear transport equation of energetic charged particles is derived, including scattering by Alfven waves propagating parallel and antiparallel to a uniform magnetic field, losses by synchrotron radiation, and acceleration of the cold background fluid supporting the waves. As in the comoving frame equations of radiative transfer, scattering, and loss terms are evaluated in the frame in which the fluid is locally at rest. The diffusion approximation is applied to the resulting equation, yielding a transport equation for the isotropic part of the distribution function and a first-order approximation to the anisotropy. The conditions under which this approximation may be applied are discussed. In the nonrelativistic regime, the standard equation of the diffusion approximation is recovered. As contributions previously investigated, new effects appear from the spatial and temporal variations of the fluid velocity as well as the synchrotron radiation terms. These are discussed in detail.