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

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