Energy diffusion and advection coefficients in kinetic simulations of relativistic plasma turbulence

Journal article

Turbulent, relativistic non-thermal plasmas are ubiquitous in high-energy astrophysical systems, as inferred from broad-band non-thermal emission spectra. The underlying turbulent non-thermal particle acceleration (NTPA) processes have traditionally been modelled with a Fokker–Planck (FP) diffusion–advection equation for the particle energy distribution. We test FP-type NTPA theories by performing and analysing particle-in-cell simulations of turbulence in collisionless relativistic pair plasma. By tracking large numbers of particles in simulations with different initial magnetization and system size, we first test and confirm the applicability of the FP framework. We then measure the FP energy diffusion (D) and advection (A) coefficients as functions of particle energy , and compare their dependence to theoretical predictions. At high energies, we robustly find for all cases. Hence, we fit and find a scaling consistent with at low instantaneous magnetization , flattening to at higher . We also find that the power-law index of the particle energy distribution converges exponentially in time. We build and test an analytic model connecting the FP coefficients and , predicting . We confirm this functional form in our measurements of , which allows us to predict through the model relations. Our results suggest that the basic second-order Fermi acceleration model, which predicts , may not be a complete description of NTPA in turbulent plasmas. These findings encourage further application of tracked particles and FP coefficients as a diagnostic in kinetic simulations of various astrophysically relevant plasma processes like collisionless shocks and magnetic reconnection.

Authors: Wong, KW; Zhdankin, V; Uzdensky, DA; Werner, GR; Begelman, MC

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Volume: 543
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 1842-1863
• Publication date: 2025-09-18
• Acceptance date: 2025-08-08
• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/staf1589
• EISSN: 1365-2966
• ISSN: 0035-8711
• Language: English
• Keywords: relativistic processes; acceleration of particles; turbulence; plasmas