Related papers: Runaway electrification of friable self-replicatin…
Insulating particles can become highly electrified during powder handling, volcanic eruptions, and the wind-blown transport of dust, sand, and snow. Measurements in these granular systems have found that smaller particles generally charge…
We consider the Landau-Coulomb equation for a (hydrogen) plasma heated by an external electric field. In this setting, theoretical and experimental results in plasma physics show the emergence of so-called \emph{runaway electrons} which are…
The collision of two expanding plasma clouds is investigated, emphasizing instabilities and electron energization in the plasma mixing layer. This work is directly relevant to laboratory experiments with explosively-created laser or z-pinch…
Double-resonant photoexcitation of nitric oxide in a molecular beam creates a dense ensemble of $50f(2)$ Rydberg states, which evolves to form a plasma of free electrons trapped in the potential well of an NO$^+$ spacecharge. The plasma…
In clouds of suspended particles (grains, droplets, spheres, crystals, etc.), collisions electrify the particles and the clouds, producing large electric potential differences over large scales. This is seen most spectacularly in the…
Astrophysical current layers, e.g., in pulsar winds, can be electrically charged, while the plasma is charge-symmetric, $e^\pm$. Using PIC simulations, we investigate dynamics and plasmoid formation (tearing instability) in charged…
A dilute suspension of active Brownian particles in a dense compressible viscoelastic fluid, forms a natural setting to study the emergence of nonreciprocity during a dynamical phase transition. At these densities, the transport of active…
When heavy nuclei collide, a quark-gluon plasma is formed. The plasma is subject to strong electric field due to the charge of the colliding nuclei. The electric field can influence the behavior of the quark-gluon plasma. In particular, we…
This study considers the self-consistent formation and dynamics of electron clouds interacting with a background neutral gas through elastic and inelastic (ionisation) collisions in coaxial geometries similar to gyrotron electron guns.…
The dissipation of turbulent magnetic fields is an appealing scenario to explain the origin of non-thermal particles in high-energy astrophysical sources. However, it has been suggested that the particle distribution may effectively…
The study of granular crystals, metamaterials that consist of closely packed arrays of particles that interact elastically, is a vibrant area of research that combines ideas from disciplines such as materials science, nonlinear dynamics,…
Grains in desert sandstorms spontaneously generate strong electrical charges; likewise volcanic dust plumes produce spectacular lightning displays. Charged particle clouds also cause devastating explosions in food, drug and coal processing…
A new nonthermal phenomenon caused by streaming cosmic rays (CRs) in the universe is proposed. The streaming CRs drive the return current of thermal electrons to compensate for the CR current. Then, electric fields are induced by the…
Turbulence is a predominant process for energizing electrons and ions in collisionless astrophysical plasmas, and thus is responsible for shaping their radiative signatures (luminosity, spectra, and variability). To better understand the…
Relativistic runaway electron avalanches (RREAs) are generally accepted as a source of thunderstorms gamma-ray radiation. Avalanches can multiply in the electric field via the relativistic feedback mechanism based on processes with…
Magnetized turbulence and magnetic reconnection are often invoked to explain the nonthermal emission observed from a wide variety of astrophysical sources. By means of fully-kinetic 2D and 3D PIC simulations, we investigate the interplay…
Runaway electrons, which are generated in a plasma where the induced electric field exceeds a certain critical value, can reach very high energies in the MeV range. For such energetic electrons, radiative losses will contribute…
Thunderstorms and lightnings are natural particle accelerator systems. Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, caused by relativistic runaway electron avalanches, produce bursts of $X$ and $\gamma$ rays, energetic enough to produce photo-nuclear…
Cooling processes in nature are typically generated by external contact with a cold reservoir or bath. According to the laws of thermodynamics, the final temperature of a system is determined by the temperature of the environment. Here, we…
It is known that a finite-size homogeneous granular fluid develops an hydrodynamic-like instability when dissipation crosses a threshold value. This instability is analyzed in terms of modified hydrodynamic equations: first, a source term…