Giant increase in cross-magnetic-field transport rate as an electron-positron plasma cools

Abstract

An electron-positron plasma in thermal equilibrium within a uniform magnetic field is studied using a classical trajectory Monte Carlo simulation. The cross-magnetic-field single-particle diffusion coefficient is evaluated as a function of the magnetic field strength and plasma temperature. The transport rate is found to increase by many orders of magnitude as the plasma temperature is lowered, for a magnetic field strength of 1 T. The sharp dependence on temperature is due to electrons and positrons becoming temporarily correlated and drifting across the magnetic field before dissociating.