National Center for Computational Sciences

Principal Investigator: William Dorland

Affiliation: University of Maryland

Machine: Cray XT4

Allocation: 4,000,000 processor hours

Research Summary: Plasma, a ubiquitous form of matter in the universe, is nearly always magnetized and turbulent. If we can understand turbulence in the solar wind streaming past the earth, then we can understand similar turbulence in the distant universe, such as is found between stars and swirling around supermassive black holes. To understand key data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory, one must characterize small-scale, kinetic plasma turbulence. This project will investigate the properties of magnetized plasma turbulence, a key problem in space physics and astrophysics. It aims to simulate kinetic, low-frequency turbulence in astrophysical plasmas and compare theory and simulation with observation.