Lucio Milanese
MIT
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
5:00pm
Achieving a more comprehensive understanding of electron-positron (pair) plasmas is important to interpret observations and explain the dynamics of astrophysical systems and phenomena such as the magnetosphere of pulsars, the accretion disks of black holes, gamma-ray bursts and astrophysical jets. Magnetized electron-positron plasmas in the contexts of astrophysical jets and pulsar wind nebulae are thought to be in a turbulent state, as the large separation between the energy injection scale and the dissipation scale generates an extended turbulent inertial range. We present results from theoretical and numerical efforts aimed at elucidating the turbulent dynamics of strongly magnetized, low beta, sub-relativistic electron-positron plasmas. The key concepts of Kolmogorov energy cascade and critical balance will be introduced and discussed.
Plasma Science and Fusion Center
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue, NW17
Cambridge, MA 02139
info@psfc.mit.edu
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