KINETIC DESCRIPTION OF PARTICLE INTERACTION WITH A GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE

The interaction of charged particles, moving in a uniform magnetic fie ld, with a plane polarized gravitational wave is considered using the Fokker-Planck-Kolmogorov (FPK) approach. By using a stochasticity crit erion, we determine the exact locations in phase space, where resonanc e overlapping occurs. We investigate the diffusion of orbits around ea ch primary resonance of order m by deriving general analytical express ions for an effective diffusion coefficient. A solution of the corresp onding diffusion equation (Fokker-Planck equation) for the static case is found. Numerical integration of the full equations of motion and s ubsequent calculation of the diffusion coefficient verifies the analyt ical results.