Collaborative Research: WoU-MMA: Extreme Quantum-Electrodynamic and General-Relativistic Plasma Physics

这个项目将研究具有很强磁场的中子星和黑洞的大气物理学。在我们的星系中观测到的具有超强磁铁的致密恒星，被称为磁星，将现代科学带入了一个巨大磁场的未知领域。这就是量子力学，而不是日常物理学，描述像太阳一样大的物体的地方。同时，探测到来自合并黑洞和中子星的引力波信号，为研究受极强引力支配的物体开辟了一个新的观测领域。磁星、中子星和黑洞是天体物理学的多信使实验室，用于研究电磁、量子和引力效应的相互作用。该项目的主要目标是通过全面描述物质在超强磁场和引力场中的集体非线性行为来更好地理解这些系统；通过这样做，它也将直接为NSF的“宇宙之窗：多信使天体物理学时代”的目标做出贡献。这一合作项目将有助于培养研究生，并通过从代表性不足的少数群体中招收学生来促进多样性。磁星——磁场超过临界施温格场的中子星，合并的中子星和黑洞双星，以及坍缩的中子星是量子电动力学（QED）和广义相对论（GR）效应强烈影响等离子体性质和行为的主要天文来源。该项目旨在了解在这种环境下无碰撞对等离子体的动力学。此外，激光技术的最新进展使最先进的高强度激光系统能够在这种极端、超临界的场条件下接近与等离子体研究相关的制度。即将到来的激光等离子体实验和多信使天文学观测将使人们能够探测到以前无法到达的极端等离子体和天体物理现象；该项目将为解释此类实验室实验和天文观测结果奠定理论和数值模拟基础。要解决的具体问题是：(i)超临界磁场中的等离子体特性、集体等离子体模式和不稳定性是什么？（ii） GR和QED效应如何改变磁重联动力学？（iii）被磁化的中子星坍缩后形成的黑洞如何耗散其磁场？（iv）旋转黑洞如何产生电子-正电子等离子体？这些问题将通过分析和数值方法的结合来回答。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will study the physics of atmospheres of neutron stars and black holes with very strong magnetic fields. Observational discovery of compact stars in our galaxy that are extraordinarily strong magnets, called magnetars, brings modern science into an uncharted territory of enormous magnetic fields. This is where quantum mechanics, rather than everyday physics, describes objects as massive as our Sun. At the same time, detection of gravitational wave signals from merging black holes and neutron stars opened a new observational domain for studies of objects governed by extremely strong gravity. Magnetars, neutron stars and black holes are astrophysical multi-messenger laboratories for studies of the interplay of electromagnetic, quantum, and gravitational effects. The primary goal of this project is to better understand such systems by developing a comprehensive description of collective non-linear behavior of matter in super-strong magnetic and gravitational fields; by doing so, it will also directly contribute to the goals of NSF's "Windows on the Universe: The Era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics" Big Idea. This collaborative project will serve to train graduate students and to promote diversity by recruiting students from underrepresented minority groups. Magnetars -- neutron stars with magnetic fields exceeding the critical Schwinger field, merging neutron star and black hole binaries, and collapsing neutron stars are the primary astronomical sources where quantum electrodynamic (QED) and general relativistic (GR) effects strongly affect the properties and behavior of plasma. This project aims to understand the dynamics of collisionless pair plasmas in such environments. Moreover, recent advances in laser technology allow state-of-the-art high-intensity laser systems to approach regimes relevant for studies of plasma under such extreme, super-critical field conditions. Upcoming laser-plasma experiments and multi-messenger astronomy observations will allow one to probe into extreme plasma and astrophysical phenomena that were previously inaccessible; and this project will create theoretical and numerical modeling foundations for interpreting results of such laboratory experiments and astronomical observations. The specific questions to be addressed are: (i) What are the plasma properties, collective plasma modes and instabilities in a supercritical magnetic field? (ii) How do GR and QED effects change the dynamics of magnetic reconnection? (iii) How does a black hole formed in the collapse of a magnetized neutron star dissipate its magnetic field? (iv) How do rotating black holes produce electron-positron plasmas? These questions will be answered using a combination of analytical and numerical approaches.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.