Magnetic Mirror and particle trap

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on the behavior of two charged particles, A and B, in a magnetic mirror setup. Particle A, with a velocity parallel to the magnetic field, will not experience the same trapping dynamics as particle B, which has a velocity perpendicular to the field. The key takeaway is that particle B is more likely to be trapped due to the increasing perpendicular component of its velocity as it approaches the edges of the magnetic field, while particle A's parallel velocity remains constant. This analysis assumes non-interacting particles and considers their individual trajectories within the magnetic mirror environment.

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QuarkDecay
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Suppose we have two charged particles A and B released in the center of the Mirror (where the field is minimum). If A's velocity direction is parallel with the Magnetic field of the mirror and B's velocity is perpendicular with the field, then which one is going to get trapped, or escape, or neither?

I'm confused because the only example I could find was with only one particle moving with a random angle (different than 90 degrees or 0 degrees), and it separates its angle into one parallel and a perpedicular. When the particle heads towards the edges where the fiels is strong, the perpendicular component increases while the parallel descreases.
But I don't know how this could apply for two separate particles.
 
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QuarkDecay said:
But I don't know how this could apply for two separate particles.
That's easy. Assuming that the particles are non-interacting, you can put them in separate bottles and see what each does in its own environment. What (I think) you are asking is what happens when a particle has a velocity that is (a) exactly perpendicular to the symmetry axis or (b) exactly along the symmetry axis. Is that your question?
 
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