Speaker
Description
Ion-scale magnetospheres have been observed around comets, weakly magnetized asteroids, and localized regions on the Moon. These mini magnetospheres provide a unique environment to study kinetic-scale plasma physics, in particular in the collisionless regime. To study these systems, the space and astrophysical plasma community have produced, in the last years, multiple experiments in laboratory, as for example, the ones performed on the Large Plasma Device facility (LAPD), at UCLA.
For the MSc Thesis, we will build analytical and numerical models with collisionless particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of laboratory-produced magnetospheres, to describe the coupling of laser-produced and magnetized plasmas and determine the properties of their interaction with magnetic obstacles. This work will not only contribute to interpret results from recent experiments, but also to support the design of future experimental studies.
