Astrophysical plasmas and fluids

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Astrophysical fluids and plasmas have an extreme range of behavior, from the relativistic fireballs of magnetars and gamma-ray bursts, to the powerful shock waves surrounding clusters of galaxies, to the cold, dusty disks in which planets form. The main goal of this research is to investigate individual physical processes in depth using a combination of analytical methods and high-performance computing, in a way that illuminates some longstanding observational puzzles. The focus in the next five years will be on the bright and broadband electromagnetic emission of the most strongly magnetized objects in the universe, the rapid fluctuations in the gamma-ray emission of black holes, the response of dense plasmas and conducting solids to ultrastrong magnetic fields, the dynamics of shock waves and cosmic rays in galaxy groups, and the essential first steps in the formation of planets, involving interactions between small particles and gas with gravitationally bound objects.