Recent Developments in Quasilinear Cosmic Ray Particle Acceleration Theories

Abstract

Several recent results of quasilinear cosmic ray transport theory are reviewed. It is shown that modelling the plasma turbulence beyond the magnetostatic approximation is most important for a correct description of cosmic ray dynamics. In particular, the effects of finite plasma wave speeds play a crucial role both for the behaviour of the particles' spatial diffusion coefficient and the diffusive acceleration by super-Alfvenic shock waves.