SPRG Seminars
November 30, 2010:
" Interaction of moving ion absorbing objects with plasmas "
Ian Hutchinson, MIT
Moving objects interacting with a plasma (or equivalently plasma flow past objects) give rise to complicated self-consistent potential and density structures, which are fundamental to determining the currents to surfaces and the wake perturbation the object causes. This basic plasma problem is common to space-craft or moons in interplanetary plasmas, and also Langmuir probes, and dust in the laboratory. Only recently has it become possible to obtain accurate rigorous solutions that account for its non-linear, multi-dimensional nature, even for the simplest of objects. This talk will survey some of the recentdevelopments in the theoretical and computational analysis of ionabsorbing objects, which applies in a variety of situations. Space and laboratory plasma physicists will derive mutual benefit from this cross-over topic.