Related papers: Formation of Transient High-$\beta$ Plasmas in a M…
This white paper, submitted for the Plasma 2020 Decadal Survey, concerns the physics of weakly collisional, high-beta plasmas -- plasmas in which the thermal pressure dominates over the magnetic pressure and in which the inter-particle…
Magnetic reconnection is a ubiquitous and fundamental process in plasmas by which magnetic fields change their topology and release magnetic energy. Despite decades of research, the physics governing the reconnection process in many…
A novel plasma equilibrium in the high-$\beta$, Hall regime that produces centrally-peaked, high Mach number Couette flow is described. Flow is driven using a weak, uniform magnetic field and large, cross field currents. Large magnetic…
Injection of coaxial-gun-formed magnetized plasmas into a background transverse vacuum magnetic field or into a background magnetized plasma has been studied in the helicon-cathode (HelCat) linear plasma device at the University of New…
An understanding of how turbulent energy is partitioned between ions and electrons in weakly collisional plasmas is crucial for modelling many astrophysical systems. Using theory and simulations of a four-dimensional reduced model of…
A supersonic flow of magnetized plasma is produced by the application of a 1 MA-peak, 500 ns current pulse to a cylindrical arrangement of parallel wires, known as an inverse wire array. The plasma flow is produced by the JxB acceleration…
Heat conduction in weakly collisional, magnetised plasma is challenging to model accurately due to multifaceted physics governing heat-carrying electrons, including microinstabilities that scatter electrons and modify heat transport.…
We performed numerical simulations of magnetic reconnection with different strength of magnetic fields from the solar photosphere to the upper chromosphere. The main emphasis is to identify dominant mechanisms for heating plasmas in the…
Over the last decade, substantial efforts have been devoted to understanding the stability properties, transport phenomena, and long-term evolution of weakly-collisional, magnetized plasmas which are stratified in temperature. These studies…
From the near-Earth solar wind to the intracluster medium of galaxy clusters, collisionless, high-beta, magnetized plasmas pervade our universe. Energy and momentum transport from large-scale fields and flows to small scale motions of…
We numerically study magnetic reconnection on different spatial scales and at different heights in the weakly ionized plasma of the low solar atmosphere (around $300-800$~km above the solar surface) within a reactive 2.5 D multi-fluid…
This work describes a laboratory plasma experiment and initial results which should give insight into the magnetic dynamics of accretion discs and jets. A high-speed multiple-frame CCD camera reveals images of the formation and helical…
Understanding plasma self-magnetization is one of the fundamental challenges in both laboratory and astrophysical plasmas. Self-magnetization can modify the plasma transport properties, altering the dynamical evolution of plasmas. Multiple…
Gyrokinetic simulations of magnetic reconnection are presented to investigate plasma heating for strongly magnetized, weakly collisional plasmas. For a low plasma beta case, parallel and perpendicular phase mixing strongly enhance energy…
Azimuthal structures emerging in beam-generated partially magnetized plasmas are investigated using three-dimensional particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision simulations. Two distinct instability regimes are identified at low pressures. When…
Plasma energization through magnetic reconnection in the magnetically-dominated regime featured by low plasma beta ($\beta = 8 \pi nkT_0/B^2 \ll 1$) and/or high magnetization ($\sigma = B^2/(4 \pi nmc^2) \gg 1$) is important in a series of…
We investigate the formation of collisionless magnetized shocks triggered by the interaction between magnetized plasma flows and miniature-sized (order of plasma kinetic-scales) magnetic obstacles resorting to massively parallel, full…
Transient interaction of magnetic dipole with plasma flow carrying southward magnetic field is studied in laboratory experiment. The flow with transverse frozen-in field is generated by means of laser-produced plasma cross-field expansion…
We investigate the transport coefficients $\alpha$ and $\beta$ in plasma systems with varying Reynolds numbers while maintaining a unit magnetic Prandtl number. {The $\alpha$ and $\beta$ tensors parameterize the turbulent electromotive…
Warm dense matter (WDM) is a regime where Fermi degenerate electrons play an important role in the macroscopic properties of a material. Recent experiments have brought us closer to understanding unmagnetized processes in WDM, but…