Perturbative approach to numerical simulations of highly magnetised relativistic plasma

Lead Research Organisation: University of Leeds
Department Name: Applied Mathematics

Abstract

In many phenomena of high-energy astrophysics we are dealing with extremely magnetised plasma where the electromagnetic energy density exceeds the rest mass-energy density of plasma. So far the numerical studies of such plasma have been carried out within the frameworks of either 1) Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamics (RMHD) or 2) Force-free electrodynamics (FFE) or 3) Direct particle mechanics (PIC). All these approaches have severe limitations. In particular, RMHD equations are stiff in the regime under the consideration, FFE ignores plasma inertial altogether, PIC does not allow to deal with the large separation of micro and macro scales encountered in the astrophysical systems. This project aims to develop a perturbative RMHD numerical scheme, where the plasma inertia is treated as small perturbation.

Publications

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