Radiation emitted by a charged particle

undergoing Brownian motion in a magnetic

field
Cite as: AIP Conference Proceedings 1796, 020004 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4972352
Published Online: 04 January 2017

Tiberiu Harko, Alexandru Marcu, and Gabriela Raluca Mocanu

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AIP Conference Proceedings 1796, 020004 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4972352 1796, 020004

© 2017 Author(s).
 Radiation Emitted by a Charged Particle Undergoing
Brownian Motion in a Magnetic Field
Tiberiu Harko1 , Alexandru Marcu2 and Gabriela Raluca Mocanu3,a)
1 Department of Physics, Babes-Bolyai University, no. 1 Kogalniceanu Street, Cluj-Napoca 400084, Romania
2 Department of Physics, Babes-Bolyai University, no. 1 Kogalniceanu Street, Cluj-Napoca 400084, Romania
3 Astronomical Observatory Cluj, Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca Branch, 19 Cireşilor Street, 400487,

Cluj-Napoca, Romania
a) Corresponding author: gabriela.mocanu@academia-cj.ro

Abstract. The physical setting in which a charged particle undergoes Brownian motion in a magnetic field is studied and the results
are discussed in an astrophysical context. The mathematical description associated to this physical setting is based on Langevin
equations. These are solved numerically, for both thermal and explosive initial conditions. Special attention is devoted to the Light
Curve generated during the motion, its statistical moments and its Power Spectral Density.

INTRODUCTION

The stochastic motion of charged particles in different physical settings is an area of major importance in astrophysics,
as it is this complex motion that produces observed light curves together with their interesting peculiarities, such as
non trivial power spectral densities. Examples of situations in astrophysics in which a stochastic component has been
identified are radiation from accretion disks around supermassive black holes (e.g. [7] and references therein), Gamma
Ray Bursts (e.g. [6] and references therein) and the presence of the quasi periodic oscillation phenomenon (e.g. [1]).
In the present paper we analyze the electromagnetic radiation of charged, non-relativistic particles, in stochastic
motion in different physical settings. More precisely, via the stochastic equation of motion, i.e. a Langevin equation [2,
11, 3, 4, 5], we analyze the simultaneous effects of the following terms

1. random exterior force, η (t), to account for interparticle collisions;

2. a constant magnetic field;
3. friction force.

The starting point is thus to solve the associated Langevin equation

d 2r   
2
˙
= F r(t),r(t),t + η (t), (1)
dt
 
where F r(t),r(t),t
˙ is the systematic force acting on the particle.
The Langevin equation directly produces the acceleration a, useful in calculating the electromagnetic power
emitted by the particle, as this power is proportional a2 .
In the first Section we introduce the Langevin equation describing the motion of a charged particle in a magnetic
field with friction and the basic relation for the stochastic power emitted during the motion. The second Section
contains a detailed account of the numerical algorithm used to obtain the solution of this Langevin equation. We end
by discussing and concluding our results.

TIM15-16 Physics Conference

AIP Conf. Proc. 1796, 020004-1–020004-6; doi: 10.1063/1.4972352
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020004-1
 BROWNIAN MOTION IN A CONSTANT MAGNETIC FIELD
The physical setting under consideration is described by the equation [2]-[5]

dv Ze  
= v(t) × B(t) − νv(t) + η (t), (2)
dt mc
where m is the mass of the particle with charge Ze, ν is an effective collision frequency and −νv(t) is the damping
term. The working hypothesis is that the stochastic effects can be quantitatively described by the stochastic accelera-
tion term η(t) in the white noise approximation,
  
η(t)i = 0, η (t1 )i η (t2 ) j = Aδi j δ (t1 − t2 ) . (3)

In the limit of a non-relativistically moving charged particle, the total emitted electromagnetic power P is [9],

2 (Ze)2 2
P= a , (4)
3 c3
where a = dv/dt is the acceleration of the particle. By taking into account that for a charged particle moving in a
magnetic field the acceleration is given by Equation (2), we obtain for the total electromagnetic power emitted by the
stochastically moving particle the expression

2
2 (Ze)2 Ze  
P = v(t) × B(t) − νv(t) + η (t) , (5)
3 c3 mc

where v(t) is obtained as a solution of Equation (2).

To be able to perform diagnosis and prognosis, we propose that the following statistical properties of the (simu-
lated) light curve might be of use
1. the mean μ, an indicator of the strength of the injected energy;
2. the standard deviation σ , an indicator about the dispersion of data with respect to the mean value;
3. the skewness s, an indicator of the lack of symmetry of the distribution of values; when this parameter is positive,
the distribution has a long right tail, while a negative value for the parameter means that the distribution has a
long left tail;
4. the kurtosis κ, which for a gaussian distribution is 3, is an indicator of the concentration of data around the peak
and in the tails versus the concentration in the flanks.
Performing the Power Spectral Density (PSD) analysis of a light curve supplies information on the type of process
generating the recorded light curve and this analysis is widely used in astronomy. To do so, one needs to calculate the
steady-state mean autocorrelation function of the electromagnetic power, defined as

CPP (t˜) = lim P(t)P (t + t˜) . (6)

t→∞

The Fourier transform of CPP (t˜) is the PSD of the power.

SOLUTION OF THE ASSOCIATED LANGEVIN EQUATION

To obtain a numerical solution of the Langevin Equation (2) we first obtain its dimensionless form by the transforma-
tions

• θ = νt; ν = 1/τ, where ν is the collision frequency in Brownian Motion;

 −1/2
• q = x Aτ 3 ;
√
• T , where vT = Aτ;
V = v/v
• ad = τ/c0 ≡ dV /dθ ;

020004-2
 3 τc3
• L= 2 (Ze)2 c0 P ≡ a2d ;
• Ω̄ = Ωτ = B0 mc
Ze
τ.

Due to their definition, these dimensionless parameters are an indicator of the relative importance of the deter-
ministic influence in the system versus the amplitude of the noise.
The equation of motion to be solved in our physical setting is given by the Langevin type equation [10]
dv Ze  
= v(t) × B − νv(t) + ξ (t), (7)
dt mc
where
   A 
ξi (t) ξ j t  = δi j t − t  , i, j = x, y, (8)
dt
where the constant magnetic field is B = Bẑ.
The equation is split into components and made dimensionless as
dX dVx dY dVy
= Vx ; = Ω̄Vy −Vx + ξ̄x (θ ), = Vy ; = −Ω̄Vx −Vy + ξ̄y (θ ), (9)
dθ dθ dθ dθ
dZ dVz    1 
= Vz ; = −Vz + ξ̄z (θ ), where ξ̄i (θ ) ξ̄ j θ  = δi j θ − θ  . (10)
dθ dθ dθ

0 1000
Z 900
10 Z800 0.2
0.0 700
600 0.0
Y
0.2
Y
0.2
0.0 0.2 0.2
X 0.2
0.0
X
0.2
0.4 0.4

FIGURE 1. Displacement of a charged particle in Brownian motion in a constant magnetic field with dimensionless Larmor
frequency Ω̄ = 10, for thermal initial conditions V0x = V0y = V0z = 0.2 (left figure), and for explosive initial conditions, V0z = 103 ,
V0x = V0y = 0 (right figure).

To numerically obtain the displacement, velocity and radiation pattern, Equations (9)-(10) and
dq dV
V (θ ) = ; ad (θ ) = ; L(θ ) = a2d (θ ), (11)
dθ dθ
are used, in conjuction with a first order Euler scheme. The variables are discretised in the usual manner, the dimen-
sionless timestep θ is discretised in units of h, such that θn = nh, where n is an integer number; as such, we have, e.g.,
V (θ ) = V (nh) ≡ Vn . For consistency, dθ = h = 0.01 throughout.
The discretised velocity equation
Vn+1 −Vn
= −Vn + Ē + ψn (12)
h
becomes
Vn+1 = Vn + h(−Vn + Ē + ψn ), (13)
where ψn ∈ N (0, h−1 ) for each timestep, where N (μ, σ 2 ) is a normal distribution of mean μ and variance σ 2 .
We proceed with initial conditions q(0) = ad (0) = 0 and V (0) = V0 . Two regimes of initial velocities will be
considered: V0 = 100 and V0 = 0.2. The first is intended to model the case when one injects a high energetic electron
into a distribution of plasma, while the second is intended to model the case when one introduces a thermalized

020004-3
electron in the plasma. The variables {q,V, L} are obtained as functions of dimensionless time, in a parameter space
given by {Ω̄,V0 }. We use mediation over 103 stochastic realisations; all PSDs have a baseline of 103 timesteps.
To obtain the solution {X,Y,Vx ,Vy } to Equation 9 we used equations (16) in [10], suitably adapted for out di-
mensionless case, while for {Z,Vz } we used an Euler scheme.
The acceleration used in the calculation of the dimensionless radiation is

a2d,n = a2x,n + a2n,y + a2z,n , ax,n+1 = ax,n + h(Ω̄Vy,n −Vx,n + ψx ), (14)

ay,n+1 = ay,n + h(−Ω̄Vx,n −Vy,n + ψy ), az,n+1 = az,n + h(−Vz,n + ψz ), (15)

with ψ j ∈ N (0, h−1 ) at each timestep. Figures 1, 2 and 3 show the results of the numerical scheme.

Thermal initial conditions Explosive initial conditions

5 VY 1000
VX 5
0 5 0

5
500 VZ

0.5 5
0 VY
5 0
VZ 0.0
5
0
0.5 5 VX

FIGURE 2. Velocity of a charged particle in Brownian motion in a magnetic field with dimensionless frequency Ω̄ = 10, for
thermal initial conditions V0x = V0y = V0z = 0.2 (left figure), and for explosive initial conditions, V0z = 103 , V0x = V0y = 0 (right
figure).

The motion of a charged particle in a constant magnetic field is periodic; however, the radiation pattern will
not exhibit periodicity. This can be easily seen, as the contribution to the LC from the x and y directions, a2x + a2y =
e−2θ (1 + Ω̄2 ) is not periodic. The implication is that one can differentiate between the observational signature of a
charged particle moving in an external harmonic potential [8] and that of a charged particle moving in a constant
magnetic field.

0.01 0.01

0.1 0.1

Thermal initial conditions 0.2 Explosive initial conditions 0.2

1.5 0.5 0.5
2.5
2 2
2.0
1.0 5 5
L 106 

L 106 

7
1.5 7

0.5 10 1.0 10

12 0.5 12

0.0
0 100 200 300 400 500 0 100 200 300 400 500
timestep timestep

FIGURE 3. Dimensionless power L emitted by a charged particle in Brownian motion in a constant magnetic field. The terms
”thermal” and ”explosive” refer to initial conditions V0x = V0y = V0z = 0.2, and V0x = V0y = V0z = 100, respectively. For presentation
purposes, the curves corresponding to Ω̄ > 1 were multiplied by 10.

Analysis of the results (compare column 3 of Table 1 with the results for the noiseless case from [8]) leads to the
following scenario: the light curve has values decreasing in time, as expected from the motion of a charged particle
subjected to friction; the mean value of the radiation depends on the available energy in the system (by means of
injection and of background magnetic field) and on the initial conditions. If furthermore, noise is introduced in the
system, the energy level is generally enhanced; one may conclude that in this parameter space, the source of the energy
radiated from charged particles is the random interparticle collision of these particles with the particles in the medium.
Table 1 contains the values of the statistical parameters calculated for a charged Brownian particle undergoing
friction in a magnetic field. Analysis of these characteristics and their evolution as the parameters space changes leads
to qualitative and quantitative conclusions: noise is responsible for a dramatic increase in the mean power output;

020004-4
 TABLE 1. Value of statistical characteristics for the LC as a function of the
parameter space, with V0 = V0x = V0y = V0z .
V0 Ω̄ μ σ s κ
0.2 0.01 39538.069 2221.934 -6.763 104.863
0.2 0.1 39490.746 2221.552 -6.776 104.661
0.2 0.2 39882.646 2216.489 -7.045 109.728
0.2 0.5 41854.708 2555.013 -5.864 77.840
100 0.01 40903.815 3139.004 3.193 15.363
100 0.1 41111.709 3201.374 3.157 15.350
100 0.2 41480.206 3299.796 3.253 15.552
100 0.5 43466.002 3480.511 3.422 16.877
0.2 2 996437.802 156456.780 -3.687 17.663
0.2 5 77822.854 8091.585 -3.923 22.470
0.2 7 272634.688 40580.606 -3.515 16.681
0.2 10 511739.362 77716.362 -3.695 18.258
0.2 12 1.412·106 220092.720 -3.711 18.108
100 2 1.072·106 152658.316 4.066 20.932
100 5 82831.353 9374.825 3.464 15.763
100 7 303399.185 42014.278 3.465 15.890
100 10 555533.183 80155.312 3.730 17.473
100 12 1.520·106 242972.915 3.470 15.893

this occurs with little variation of Ω̄ even in the thermal injection case; there is no significant additional change if
the emission occurs following and explosion. This insensitivity on ICs for fixed Ω̄ can also be seen for the σ and κ
parameters. The skewness changes sign, but retains the same absolute value to within a few percent.
The PSD shows no unusual feature; the effect of the noise is seen in the overall increase of power at all frequencies
(compare Figure 4 with results for the noiseless case in [8]). In the case of the PSD, however, the intensity of the
magnetic field, through the value of Ω̄, does produce an effect such that the relative intensity of the power for a fixed
frequency grows with growing Ω̄.

0.01

0.1
Explosive initial conditions
0.01
Thermal initial conditions 35 0.2

0.1
2
30 30
0.2
5
25
log PSD

25
log PSD

2
7
20 5
20
10
15 7 15
12
10 10 10
12
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
log f  log f 

FIGURE 4. Log-Log representation of the PSD of the electromagnetic power emitted by a charged particle in Brownian motion in
a constant magnetic field. The terms ”thermal” and ”explosive” refer to initial conditions of V0x = V0y = V0z = 0.2 and V0x = V0y =
V0z = 100 respectively.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

The radiation pattern and properties of charged particles in Brownian motion were considered. The analytical approach
was based on the Langevin equation, which gives a full description of the particle-external environment system. The
Langevin equation was solved numerically for a set of fixed parameters. Due to the stochastic, random distribution
of the physical parameters of the particles, very different radiation patterns can be generated. There is a variety of

020004-5
astrophysical contexts in which radiation carries the imprint of some stochastic component of the background physics;
solving the equation of motion of charged particles with the explicit inclusion of the magnetic field and calculation of
the emitted power, as we have done in this paper, will help develop models to explain, e.g., radiation from accretion
disks around supermassive black holes (e.g. [7] and references therein), Gamma Ray Bursts (e.g. [6] and references
therein) and the presence of the quasi periodic oscillation phenomenon (e.g. [1] and references therein).
In conclusion, we have presented, extended and implemented an approach allowing for diagnosis and prognosis
of the astrophysical observations of stochastically varying luminosity sources, based on theoretical modelling.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
AM and GM are partially supported from a grant of the Romanian National Authority of Scientific Research, Program
for research - Space Technology and Advanced Research - STAR, project number 72 29.11.2013.

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