Astroplasmas Seminar

Next seminar

[SPECIAL TIME] Friday, Jun 4th, 11:30am

Shock physics in the merging galaxy cluster A2146

Prof. Helen Russell (University of Nottingham)

Abstract: The galaxy cluster A2146 is undergoing a major merger and hosts two huge, bright Mach 2 shock fronts, which provide a unique opportunity to measure the electron-ion equilibration timescale along with other key transport phenomena. Collisionless shocks occur over a wide range of scales from accretion shocks to supernova remnants and heliospheric shocks. However, only clusters, particularly A2146 allow us to map the large-scale equilibration with a single observation, which is unaffected by cross-calibration uncertainties. I will present preliminary results from a new 2.4Ms Chandra observation that provides a measure of this timescale, reveals the detailed shock structure and traces the disruption of both cool cores, including heating and mixing of cool gas blobs in ram pressure stripped tails.

Scheduled seminars (Jan--Jun 2021)

22 Jan: "Violation of the zeroth law of turbulence in space plasmas" (Dr. Romain Meyrand, University of Otago)

29 Jan:

5 Feb:

12 Feb:

19 Feb: "Primordial vs astrophysical models for the emergence of cosmic magnetism: an observational and theoretical challenge" (Prof. Franco Vazza, University of Bologna)

26 Feb: [SPECIAL TIME: 12:00pm] "Non ideal effects in protoplanetary disks: transition from turbulent to Dead Zone in local and global stratified simulations" (Dr. Fulvia Pucci, JPL)

5 Mar:

12 Mar:

19 Mar: [SPECIAL TIME: 11:30am] "MHD turbulence: simulation, observation, impact on particle transport" (Prof. Huirong Yan, DESY & Potsdam University)

26 Mar: "Extreme particle acceleration in pulsars: from the magnetosphere to the nebula" (Dr. Benoit Cerutti, CNRS Grenoble)

2 Apr:

9 Apr:

16 Apr: "Phenomenology and theory of galactic cosmic-ray propagation" (Prof. Carmelo Evoli, GSSI L'Aquila)

23 Apr: "The dynamics of pair and electron-ion relativistic collisionless shock waves" (Dr. Arno Vanthieghem, Stanford)

30 Apr: [SPECIAL TIME: 12:00pm] "A systematic exploration of magnetized winds solutions in protoplanetary discs" (Dr. Geoffroy Lesur, CNRS Grenoble)

7 May:

14 May: "Alfvénic fluctuations and switchbacks in the solar wind" (Prof. Anna Tenerani, UT Austin)

21 May:

28 May:

4 Jun: [SPECIAL TIME: 11:30am] "Shock physics in the merging galaxy cluster A2146" (Prof. Helen Russell, University of Nottingham)

11 Jun:

18 Jun:

25 Jun: