Speaker
Dr
Vyacheslav Olshevsky
(KU Leuven)
Description
Fully kinetic electromagnetic particle-in-cell code iPic3D is used to
model magnetic reconnection in
the
variety of plasma configurations. We apply Poincare index technique to
locate and identify the
topological characteristics of the magnetic null points in different three-
dimensional simulations.
The relevance of magnetic nulls to energy dissipation, turbulence and
plasma instabilities is studied
in
the scenarios of: turbulent dissipation of an unstable plasma
configuration, Lunar Magnetic
Anomalies,
planetary mini-magnetospheres, symmetric and asymmetric 3D Harris
sheet configurations. In
particular, we found out that magnetic nulls of the spiral topological
type associated with the
magnetic
islands and flux ropes play more important role in energy dissipation
than the radial nulls. This
finding
is in accordance with recent MHD simulations and in situ observations
of Cluster spacecraft.
Primary author
Dr
Vyacheslav Olshevsky
(KU Leuven)
Co-authors
Andrey Divin
(St Petersburg State University)
Mr
Emanuele Cazzola
(KU Leuven)
Prof.
Giovanni Lapenta
(KU Leuven)
Ms
Ivy Bo Beng
(KTH Royal Institute of Technology)
Dr
Jan Deca
(University of Colorado in Boulder)
Dr
Jorge Amaya
(KU Leuven)
Dr
Maria Elena Innocenti
(KU Leuven)
Dr
Stefano Markidis
(KTH Royal Institute of Technology)
