On the electron dynamics in the field of a whistler wave propagating along a magnetic field in a weakly inhomogeneous plasma

The relativistic motion of electrons in the field of a finite amplitude circularly polarized whistler propagating along a constant magnetic field in a plasma with longitudinal inhomogeneity is considered. It is shown that the equations of the particle motion exhibit a constant of the motion despite the spatial dependence of the wave parameters. The existence of the constant allows one to reduce the equations of motion to a canonical form describing one-dimensional oscillations of a particle with the Hamiltonian slowly varying in the process of the oscillations.