Brian Tinker with Tanmay Vachaspati

Particle Propagation in Astrophysical Magnetic Fields

The influence of large scale astrophysical magnetic fields on cosmic ray propagation may aid in understanding the observed cosmic ray energy spectrum and arrival direction distribution.  After learning some magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), and studying earlier work on cosmic ray propagation in randomly distributed magnetic fields, I will simulate this process. A magnetic helicity (handedness) will be added to the simulation, and its effect on the propagation of cosmic rays will be studied. I will also consider the propagation of particle spin in a randomly magnetized plasma.