Astrophysics

The theoretical subgroup of PPTF cooperating with Prof. Kulhanek from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering deals mainly with:

1) numerical simulations of plasma phenomena using the Particle-In-Cell method. This is the core of the package of programs, into which other components were packed, mainly related to radiative losses or visualizations of fields by the Line integral convolution method. The non-inclusion of the gravitational field allows rescaling to different dimensions.

2) Setting up and numerical solutions of dispersion relations of electromagnetic waves propagating through a plasma, searching for imaginary parts of the solution leading to instabilities (e.g. two-phase instabilities in the presence of electric and magnetic fields).

3) Recently, we have been focusing on the study of Runaway Electrons (RE) and the causes of their formation. Simulations of REs, especially for relativistic velocities, encounter the unavailability of an equation of motion for the charged particle (the last published form of the Lorentz-Dirac analogy is in the form of an infinite series), the energy losses at high velocities need to include pair production, etc. We start with simulations of reconnection of magnetic fields as one possible cause of RE, as many phenomena in astrophysics are related to the reconnection of magnetic induction lines.

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