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UID:UW-Physics-Event-8200
DTSTART:20230220T180000Z
DURATION:PT1H0M0S
DTSTAMP:20260414T121504Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230212T195150Z
LOCATION:2241 Chamberlin Hall
SUMMARY:Into the Nonthermal Landscape: Searching for a Statistical Mec
 hanics for Turbulent Particle Acceleration in Collisionless Plasmas\, 
 Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar\, Vladimir Zhdankin\, Cent
 er for Computational Astrophysics\, Flatiron Institute
DESCRIPTION:Turbulence has long been considered as a candidate process
  for accelerating particles to relativistic energies in collisionless 
 space and astrophysical plasmas. Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of
  relativistic (and trans-relativistic) turbulence have recently opened
  this topic to rigorous\, first-principles numerical scrutiny. I will 
 describe progress on understanding nonthermal particle energization by
  turbulence\, focusing on the relativistic regime. PIC simulations dem
 onstrate efficient turbulent particle acceleration and confirm its dif
 fusive nature\, while also yielding new insights into the electron-to-
 ion heating ratio and radiative signatures. However\, the prevalence a
 nd properties of power-law particle energy distributions remains a mys
 tery. I suggest that a complete understanding will require us to confr
 ont the age-old problem of anomalous entropy production in collisionle
 ss plasmas. I will describe recent theoretical efforts to model partic
 le acceleration with generalized maximum entropy principles\, which ca
 n explain several surprising numerical results and may extend to pheno
 mena beyond turbulence (such as magnetic reconnection). The next sever
 al years promise to bring fundamental breakthroughs into these problem
 s.<br>\n
URL:https://www.physics.wisc.edu/events/?id=8200
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