On resonant heating below the cyclotron frequency

Resonant heating of particles by electrostatic and Alfvén waves propagating in a confining uniform magnetic field is examined. It is shown that, with a sufficiently large wave amplitude, significant perpendicular stochastic heating can be obtained with wave frequency at a fraction of the cyclotron frequency. This result may have relevance for the heating of ions in the solar corona, and is a generic phenomenon, independent of the type of wave considered.