TDYNO: Fluctuation Dynamo, Heat Transport, and Ion Acceleration in Magnetized Turbulence

This award supports a laboratory-based study of astrophysical plasma turbulence using simulations and high power laser facilities. Magnetized plasma turbulence, the stochastic twisting and tangling of magnetic fields in the turbulent matter of galaxy clusters, is currently the best working hypothesis to account for cosmic magnetic fields. Stochastic magnetic fields are theorized to be responsible for regulating heat conduction in galaxy cluster cores; and magnetized turbulence plays a key role in the transport and energization of cosmic rays. The emergence of high-power lasers and high performance computing have radically changed the way these processes can be studied, enabling new opportunities to recreate and model astrophysically relevant magnetized plasmas in the laboratory. The TDYNO (turbulent dynamo) collaboration, co-led by the University of Rochester and the University of Oxford and supported by this award, is studying the fundamental properties of magnetized turbulence and the astrophysical processes it mediates through a combination of high-fidelity numerical simulations with the FLASH code and laser-driven experiments at world-class laser facilities. This project builds on the recent achievements of the TDYNO collaboration and enables the design, execution, and interpretation of novel laser-driven laboratory astrophysics experiments at the Omega Laser Facility at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research. The experiments exploit the mature and versatile TDYNO experimental platform, which will be tailored through FLASH design simulations to (1) answer fundamental questions pertinent to the onset and decay of magnetized turbulence and turbulent dynamo (Omega), (2) measure and bracket how heat is transported in strongly magnetized turbulent plasmas (NIF), and (3) characterize the mechanisms behind the energization of ions in stochastic magnetic fields (GSI). In doing so, the project contributes to the goals of NSF's "Windows on the Universe: The Era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics" program. The project supports research thrusts that are of broad interest to the plasma physics and astrophysics communities and provides unique training opportunities to several graduate students and postdoctoral scholars at the University of Rochester and the University of Oxford. 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.