Stochastic processes of particle trapping and detrapping by a wave in a magnetized plasma.

This paper presents some relevant numerical simulations of the three-dimensional evolution of a monochromatic lower hybrid wave interacting at the Landau resonance with a Maxwellian electron beam in a magnetized plasma. A statistical study of the stochastic trapping-detrapping transitions performed by a large set of quasiresonant test particles moving self-consistently in the wave's potential has been carried out using dynamical criteria based on simple physical arguments. The paper allows us to explain the role of the stochastic processes at work in the wave-particle interactions and to shed light on their influence on the dynamical evolution of the system over a long range of time.