Related papers: Fast dissipation of Colliding Alfv\'en Waves in a …
Magnetic energy around astrophysical compact objects can strongly dominate over plasma rest mass. Emission observed from these systems may be fed by dissipation of Alfv\'en wave turbulence, which cascades to small damping scales, energizing…
Magnetar flares excite strong Alfv\'{e}n waves in the magnetosphere of the neutron star. The wave energy can (1) dissipate in the magnetosphere, (2) convert to "fast modes" and possibly escape, and (3) penetrate the neutron star crust and…
Magnetic reconnection can explosively release magnetic energy when opposing magnetic fields merge and annihilate through a current sheet, driving plasma jets and accelerating non-thermal particle populations to high energy, in plasmas…
Alfv\'{e}n waves as excited in black hole accretion disks and neutron star magnetospheres are the building blocks of turbulence in relativistic, magnetized plasmas. A large reservoir of magnetic energy is available in these systems, such…
The magnetic energy of nonlinear Alfven waves in compressible plasmas may be ponderomotively coupled only to ion-acoustic quasi-modes which modulate the wave phase velocity and cause wave-front steepening. In the collisionless plasma with…
The debate surrounding fast magnetic energy dissipation by magnetic reconnection has remained a fundamental topic in the plasma universe, not only in the Earth's magnetosphere but in astrophysical objects such as pulsar magnetospheres and…
Magnetic reconnection in the solar corona is thought to be unstable to the formation of multiple interacting plasmoids, and previous studies have shown that plasmoid dynamics can trigger MHD waves of different modes propagating outward from…
Plasma-mediated interaction between astrophysical objects can play an important role and produce electromagnetic radiation in various binary systems, ranging from planet-moon and star-planet systems to binary compact objects. We perform 3D…
Instabilities in a neutron star can generate Alfv\'en waves in its magnetosphere. Propagation along the curved magnetic field lines strongly shears the wave, boosting its electric current $j_{\rm A}$. We derive an analytic expression for…
We perform 2D and 3D kinetic simulations of reconnection-mediated turbulent flares in a magnetized electron-positron plasma, with weak and strong radiative cooling. Such flares can be generated around neutron stars and accreting black…
Magnetar bursts can be emitted by Alfv\'en waves growing in the outer magnetosphere to nonlinear amplitudes, $\delta B/B\sim 1$, and triggering magnetic reconnection. Similar magnetic flares should occur quasi-periodically in a magnetized…
Plasma densification through magnetic compression has been suggested for time-resolved control of the wave properties in plasma-based accelerators. Using particle in cell simulations with real mass ratio, the practicality of large magnetic…
The nature of fast magnetoacoustic and Alfv\'en waves is investigated in a zero $\beta$ plasma. This gives an indication of wave propagation in the low $\beta$ solar corona. It is found that for a two-dimensional null point, the fast wave…
Recent experiments have observed magnetic reconnection in high-energy-density, laser-produced plasma bubbles, with reconnection rates observed to be much higher than can be explained by classical theory. Based on fully kinetic particle…
We present results from 2.5-dimensional Particle-in-Cell simulations of the interaction of nonlinear Alfven waves with thin current sheets in relativistic plasmas. We find that the Alfven waves cause the current sheet to bend and kink and…
Turbulence profoundly affects particle transport and plasma heating in many astrophysical plasma environments, from galaxy clusters to the solar corona and solar wind to Earth's magnetosphere. Both fluid and kinetic simulations of plasma…
Magnetic reconnection in strongly magnetized (low-beta), weakly collisional plasmas is investigated using a novel fluid-kinetic model [Zocco & Schekochihin, Phys. Plasmas 18, 102309 (2011)] which retains non-isothermal electron kinetics. It…
In this paper, we study the weakly-compressive high-frequency plasma waves which are superposed on a large-amplitude Alfv\'en wave in a multi-fluid plasma consisting of protons, electrons, and alpha particles. For these waves, the plasma…
Using two-dimensional hybrid-kinetic simulations, we explore the nonlinear "interruption" of standing and traveling shear-Alfv\'en waves in collisionless plasmas. Interruption involves a self-generated pressure anisotropy removing the…
A magnetically dominated plasma driven by motions on boundaries at which magnetic field lines are anchored is forced to dissipate the work being done upon it, no matter how small the electrical resistivity. Numerical experiments have…