Related papers: A Prospectus on Kinetic Heliophysics
These lecture notes and example problems are based on a course given at the University of Cambridge in Part III of the Mathematical Tripos. Fluid dynamics is involved in a very wide range of astrophysical phenomena, such as the formation…
Many geophysical and astrophysical phenomena are driven by turbulent fluid dynamics, containing behaviors separated by tens of orders of magnitude in scale. While direct simulations have made large strides toward understanding geophysical…
We provide a detailed multiscale analysis of a system of particles interacting through a dynamical network of links. Starting from a microscopic model, via the mean field limit, we formally derive coupled kinetic equations for the particle…
We present a new model of the heliospheric interface - the region of the solar wind interaction with the local interstellar medium. This new model performs a multi-component treatment of charged particles in the heliosphere. All charged…
The hydrodynamic processes operating within stellar interiors are far richer than represented by the best stellar evolution model available. Although it is now widely understood, through astrophysical simulation and relevant terrestrial…
The formation and evolution of nonlinear and turbulent dynamical structures in two-dimensional complex plasmas and fluids is explored by means of generalised (drift) fluid simulations. Recent numerical results on turbulence in dusty…
Major scientific questions and research opportunities are described on 10 unprioritized plasma astrophysics topics: (1) magnetic reconnection, (2) collisionless shocks and particle acceleration, (3) waves and turbulence, (4) magnetic…
Although turbulence has been conjectured to be important for magnetic reconnection, still very little is known about its role in collisionless plasmas. Previous attempts to quantify the effect of turbulence on reconnection usually…
By solving a simple kinetic equation, in the relaxation time approximation, and for a particular set of moments of the distribution function, we establish a set of equations which, on the one hand, capture exactly the dynamics of the…
We study long-range interacting systems driven by external stochastic forces that act collectively on all the particles constituting the system. Such a scenario is frequently encountered in the context of plasmas, self-gravitating systems,…
Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) plasma turbulence is believed to play a vital role in the production of energetic electrons during solar flares and the non-thermal broadening of spectral lines is a key sign of this turbulence. Here, we determine…
The linear MHD Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) in an anisotropic plasma concerning the direction of an external magnetic field is examined in detail. For this purpose, the MHD equations are used to describe the motion of plasma as a…
The mechanism of heating for hot, dilute, and turbulent plasmas represents a long-standing problem in space physics, whose implications concern both near-Earth environments and astrophysical systems. In order to explore the possible role of…
The dissipation mechanisms in weakly collisional plasmas have been a longstanding topic of investigation, where significant progress has been made in recent years. A recent promising development is the use of the "scale-filtered"…
Collisionless plasma shocks are efficient sources of non-thermal particle acceleration in space and astrophysical systems. We use hybrid (kinetic ions -- fluid electrons) simulations to examine the non-linear feedback of the self-generated…
A Hamiltonian two-field gyrofluid model is used to investigate the dynamics of an electron-ion collisionless plasma subject to a strong ambient magnetic field, within a spectral range extending from the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) scales to…
We study colloidal particle dynamics of a model glass system using confocal and fluorescence microscopy as the sample evolves from a hard-sphere glass to a liquid with attractive interparticle interactions. The transition from hard-sphere…
A familiar problem in space and astrophysical plasmas is to understand how dissipation and heating occurs. These effects are often attributed to the cascade of broadband turbulence which transports energy from large scale reservoirs to…
Multiphase gas -- ranging from cold molecular clouds ($\lesssim 100\,$K) to hot, diffuse plasma ($\gtrsim 10^6\,$K) is a defining feature of the interstellar, circumgalactic, intracluster, and intergalactic media. Accurately simulating its…
The onset and evolution of magnetic fields in laboratory and astrophysical plasmas is determined by several mechanisms, including instabilities, dynamo effects and ultra-high energy particle flows through gas, plasma and interstellar-media.…