Unified Framework for the Study of Alfven Wave Resonances, Magnetic Reconnection and Kelvin-Helmholtz Instabilities

该奖项支持建立在理论等离子体物理和计算应用数学之间的协同作用的多学科工作，以加深我们对基本等离子体过程的理解。等离子体是一种电离物质，在我们的宇宙中随处可见。霓虹灯、闪电、极光和恒星都是物质处于等离子体状态的例子。在等离子体中，离子和电子与电场和磁场强烈相互作用，产生独特的高能量现象，其中一些对我们有直接影响--例如可能导致地球上空间天气事件的日冕物质抛射。众所周知，磁场在这类事件中起着至关重要的作用，因为它提供了一种存储能量并通过波的传播来传输能量的方法。然而，一个基本的开放问题是理解储存在磁场中的能量通常是如何以热、加速粒子和辐射的形式脉冲释放到等离子体中的。这一问题将在本奖项下通过尖端的理论和计算方法加以解决。作为这项工作的一部分，开发的数值代码将是开放的，使更多的研究人员和学生可以通过该小组的教育活动获得计算资源。这个项目汇集了数十年来等离子体物理、计算数学和高性能计算的专业知识，以研究通过在高伦德奎斯特数等离子体中形成边界层来储存和释放能量的过程。磁波的消散，也就是众所周知的阿尔芬波，以及磁力线的重新连接，通常被认为是解释等离子体能量的可能机制。然而，我们对这种机制如何产生脉冲能量的理解仍然不完整，而且由于所涉及的现象的空间和时间尺度不同，它仍然具有挑战性。为了解决这个基本问题，这个项目着重于质量流在二维和三维系统中阿尔芬波共振、开尔文-亥姆霍兹不稳定性和磁重联相互作用中的作用。为此，该项目将依靠最先进的程序和开发高阶杂交不连续有限元程序，以达到模拟高能事件所需的分辨率。研究生将被支持参与该项目，他们将从这项研究对等离子体物理和软件网络基础设施的广泛影响中受益匪浅。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award supports multidisciplinary work that builds on the synergy between theoretical plasma physics and computational applied mathematics to further our understanding of fundamental plasma processes. Plasma is a form of ionized matter that can be found everywhere in our universe. Neon lights, lightning, auroras and stars are all examples of matter in the plasma state. In a plasma, ions and electrons interact strongly with electric and magnetic fields causing unique and highly energetic phenomena, some of which have a direct impact on us - such as solar coronal mass ejections that may lead to space weather events on Earth. It is known that magnetic fields play a crucial role in this type of events by providing a means to store energy and to transport it through the propagation of waves. One of the fundamental open problems, however, is to understand how the energy stored in the magnetic fields is often impulsively released to the plasma in the forms of heat, accelerated particles, and radiation. This problem will be addressed under this award via cutting-edge theoretical and computational approaches. Numerical codes developed as part of this work will be open access to make computational resources accessible to a wider range of researchers and to students through the group's educational activities.This project brings together decades of expertise in plasma physics, computational mathematics and high performance computing to investigate the processes of energy storage and release via the formation of boundary layers in high Lundquist number plasmas. Dissipation of magnetic waves, known as Alfven waves, and the reconnection of magnetic field lines are often invoked as possible mechanisms to explain plasma energization. However, our understanding of how such mechanisms can give rise to impulsive energization is still incomplete, and it remains challenging due to the disparate spatial and temporal scales of the phenomena involved. To address this fundamental issue, this project focuses on the role of mass flows in the interaction of Alfven wave resonances, Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, and magnetic reconnection in two- and three-dimensional systems. To this end, the project will rely on state-of-the-art codes and develop high-order hybridized discontinuous finite element codes to achieve the required resolution to simulate energetic events. Graduate students will be supported to work on the project, who will greatly benefit from the broad impacts of this research on both plasma physics and software cyberinfrastructure.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.