Does stochasticity due to whistler mode wave coupling persist in self-consistent systems?

Previous studies suggest that interactions between a single electron and two oppositely directed, whistler mode waves propagating parallel to a constant background magnetic field can be regarded as a candidate source for phase space diffusion leading to dissipation procedures in collisionless astrophysical plasmas. In this paper the above interaction process is examined self-consistently. We make direct comparison between the dynamics predicted from single particle orbits and that extracted from electron motion in 1D electromagnetic particle in cell (PIC) simulations. By this means we are able to establish that strong phase space diffusion due to chaos occurs in collisionless plasmas when treated fully self-consistently, and therefore may be an important mechanism for irreversibility in astrophysical plasmas. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved