Electrical Conductivity of a Collisionless Magnetoplasma in a Weakly Turbulent Magnetic Field

Abstract

The behavior of test particles in the presence of uniform, parallel, and steady electric and magnetic fields in addition to a weakly turbulent magnetic field is studied. The quasilinear approach is used to find a diffusion equation for the distribution function describing the test particles; the diffusion equation describes the pitch‐angle scattering experienced by the test particles due to the random fluctuations of the magnetic field. In the weak‐electric‐field limit the equation is analyzed in detail and an expression for the electrical conductivity in terms of the correlation tensor of the fluctuating field is found. Finally, for the case of a particular model of the turbulence and a Maxwellian distribution of test particles, an explicit formula for the conductivity is given.