University of Cambridge > Talks.cam > DAMTP Astrophysics Seminars > Kinetic Simulations of Imbalanced Turbulence in a Relativistic Plasma

Kinetic Simulations of Imbalanced Turbulence in a Relativistic Plasma

Add to your list(s) Download to your calendar using vCal

  • User Amelia Hankla - University of Colorado Boulder
  • ClockMonday 22 November 2021, 16:00-17:00
  • HouseOnline.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Dr Can Cui.

Turbulent high-energy astrophysical systems often feature asymmetric energy injection: for instance, Alfven waves propagating from an accretion disk into its corona. Such systems are “imbalanced”: the energy fluxes parallel and anti-parallel to the large-scale magnetic field are unequal. In the past, numerical studies of imbalanced turbulence have focused on the magnetohydrodynamic regime. In the present study, we investigate externally-driven imbalanced turbulence in a collisionless, ultrarelativistically hot, magnetized pair plasma using three-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. We find that the injected electromagnetic momentum efficiently converts into plasma momentum, resulting in net motion along the background magnetic field with speeds up to a significant fraction of lightspeed. This discovery has important implications for the launching of accretion disk winds. We also find that although particle acceleration in imbalanced turbulence operates on a slower timescale than in balanced turbulence, it ultimately produces a power-law energy distribution similar to balanced turbulence. Our results have ramifications for black hole accretion disk coronae, winds, and jets.

This talk is part of the DAMTP Astrophysics Seminars series.

Tell a friend about this talk:

This talk is included in these lists:

Note that ex-directory lists are not shown.

 

© 2006-2024 Talks.cam, University of Cambridge. Contact Us | Help and Documentation | Privacy and Publicity