Spontaneous magnetization of collisionless plasma
Name
pnas.2119831119.pdf
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Published version
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1.67 MB
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Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
efb2162c30f6a5a0ee4ea100a77f29df
Author(s)
Zhou, Muni
Zhdankin, Vladimir
Kunz, Matthew W
Loureiro, Nuno F
Uzdensky, Dmitri A
Date Issued
2022
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Citation
Zhou, Muni, Zhdankin, Vladimir, Kunz, Matthew W, Loureiro, Nuno F and Uzdensky, Dmitri A. 2022. "Spontaneous magnetization of collisionless plasma." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119 (19).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Significance
Astronomical observations indicate that dynamically important magnetic fields are ubiquitous in the Universe, while their origin remains a profound mystery. This work provides a paradigm for understanding the origin of cosmic magnetism by taking into account the effects of the microphysics of collisionless plasmas on macroscopic astrophysical processes. We demonstrate that the first magnetic fields can be spontaneously generated in the Universe by generic motions of astrophysical turbulence through kinetic plasma physics, and cosmic plasmas are thereby ubiquitously magnetized. Our theoretical and numerical results set the stage for determining how these “seed” magnetic fields are further amplified by the turbulent dynamo (another central and long-standing question) and thus advance a fully self-consistent explanation of cosmic magnetogenesis.
Astronomical observations indicate that dynamically important magnetic fields are ubiquitous in the Universe, while their origin remains a profound mystery. This work provides a paradigm for understanding the origin of cosmic magnetism by taking into account the effects of the microphysics of collisionless plasmas on macroscopic astrophysical processes. We demonstrate that the first magnetic fields can be spontaneously generated in the Universe by generic motions of astrophysical turbulence through kinetic plasma physics, and cosmic plasmas are thereby ubiquitously magnetized. Our theoretical and numerical results set the stage for determining how these “seed” magnetic fields are further amplified by the turbulent dynamo (another central and long-standing question) and thus advance a fully self-consistent explanation of cosmic magnetogenesis.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.2119831119
