Nonlinear theory of a whistler wave

Using the Dupree—Weinstock perturbed-orbit model of plasma turbulence, we obtain the diffusion equation describing the evolution of the average one-particle distribution function for whistler mode turbulence. The numerical result for electron pitch-angle diffusion within this scheme leads us to conclude that the effect of the resonance broadening due to perturbed orbits on the pitch-angle diffusion coefficient is not large compared with that evaluated by the unperturbed orbit in the whistler mode spectrum with a finite width. Based on the explicitly evaluated resonance function, the effects of this broadening on the growth rate for the whistler wave are also discussed.