magnetic fields tagged posts

This is a 3-D radiation magneto-hydrodynamic FLASH simulation of the experiment, performed on the Mira supercomputer at Argonne National Laboratory. The values demonstrate strong amplification of the seed magnetic fields by turbulent dynamo. Credit: Petros Tzeferacos/University of Chicago

Laser experiments verify ‘turbulent dynamo’ theory of how cosmic magnetic fields are created. By creating a hot turbulent plasma the size of a penny, that lasts a few billionths of a second, the researchers recorded how the turbulent motions can amplify a weak magnetic field to the strengths of those observed in our sun, distant stars, and galaxies...

Magnetic perturbations in a fusion plasma are shown. Credit: Gerrit Kramer

Physicists led by Gerrit Kramer at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have conducted simulations that suggest that applying magnetic fields to fusion plasmas can control instabilities known as Alfvén waves that can reduce the efficiency of fusion reactions. Such instabilities can cause quickly moving charged particles called “fast ions” to escape from the core of the plasma, which is corralled within machines known as tokamaks. Controlling these instabilities leads to higher temperatures within tokamaks and thus more efficient fusion processes.

“Controlling and suppressing the instabilities helps improve the fast-ion confinement and plasma performance,” said Kramer, a r...

Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence powered by neutrino-driven convection behind the stalled shock of a core-collapse supernova simulation. This simulation shows that the presence of rotation and weak magnetic fields dramatically impacts the development of the supernova mechanism as compared to non-rotating, non-magnetic stars. The nascent neutron star is just barely visible in the center below the turbulent convection. Credit: Sean M. Couch, Michigan State University

Michigan State University researchers are using Mira to perform large-scale 3D simulations of the final moments of a supernova’s life cycle...

A visualization of the strong, ordered magnetic field built up by dynamo action in the core of a rapidly rotating, collapsed star. Credit: Moesta et al./Nature

A supercomputer simulation of just 10ms in the collapse of a massive star into a neutron star proves that these catastrophic events, often called hypernovae, can generate the enormous magnetic fields needed to explode the star and fire off bursts of gamma rays visible halfway across the universe.

The simulation demonstrates that as a rotating star collapses, the star and its attached magnetic field spin faster and faster, forming a dynamo that revs the magnetic field to a million billion times the magnetic field of Earth...