Thursdays 4:15–5:30 p.m.
Reception 3:45–4:15 p.m.
Student Q&A 2:00–3:00

October 23

The FLASH code—an open simulation toolset for magnetized HED plasma physics and astrophysics

Petros Tzeferacos, Director, Flash Center for Computational Science; Professor, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy; Senior Scientist, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester

FLASH is a publicly available, finite-volume Eulerian, spatially adaptive, radiation magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) code with extended physics capabilities. FLASH is being developed, verified, and validated by the Flash Center for Computational Science to perform well on several computer architectures and serve a broad user base of more than 5,000 scientists, spanning numerous research communities. Extensive high energy density (HED) physics capabilities exist in FLASH, making it a powerful open toolset for modeling laser-driven and pulsed-power-driven experiments. In this talk, I summarize the HEDP capabilities of the code, with an emphasis on recent additions. I showcase FLASH’s ability to simulate ab initio complex laboratory astrophysics experiments performed by the Turbulent Dynamo (TDYNO) collaboration and highlight several collaborative efforts with the academic HED community, the national laboratories, and industry, in which FLASH simulations are used to design and interpret a broad range of HED physics experiments.

This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration under Award Number DE-NA0004144. The Flash Center acknowledges support by the U.S. DOE NNSA under Awards DE-NA0002724, DE-NA0003605, DE-NA0003934, DE-NA0004147, and Subcontract 630138 with LANL; the NSF under Awards PHY-2033925 and PHY-2308844; the U.S. DOE Office of Science, under Awards DE-SC0021990, DE-SC0023246; and the U.S. DOE ARPA-E under Award DE-AR0001272.

Host: Genady Shvets

About the speaker: Petros Tzeferacos is the Director of Flash Center for Computational Science, a Professor of Physics and Astronomy, and a Senior Scientist at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics of the University of Rochester. He works on plasma physics and astrophysics, combining MHD theory, numerical modeling, and laser-driven laboratory experiments, to study fundamental astrophysical plasma processes with a focus on magnetized turbulence, dynamo, and charged particle acceleration. He is also working on several fundamental topics in inertial fusion energy and high energy density physics. He holds a visiting scientist position with the University of Oxford and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and is a guest scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He received the APS John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research in 2019, an Early Career Award from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science in 2021, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2025.

Location: 700 Clark Hall (colloquium and reception), 220 Clark Hall (student Q&A)

November 6

Overview of PPPL Low Temperature Plasma Physics Research

Igor D. Kaganovich, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL)

Host: Genady Shvets

About the speaker: Igor Kaganovich is a Principal Research Physicist, is an expert in theoretical plasma physics.He has an extensive publication record with 200 publications on plasma theory, plasma-surface interactions, plasma-based synthesis and processing of nanomaterials, cross-field discharges, and physics of plasma thrusters. His professional interests include plasma physics with applications to nuclear fusion (heavy ion fusion), gas discharge modeling,  plasma processing, nanomaterial synthesis, kinetic theory of plasmas and gases, hydrodynamics, quantum mechanics, nonlinear phenomena and pattern formation. He was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2007. Among many honors, Dr. Kaganovich, along with PPPL physicist Yevgeny Raitses, received PPPL’s Kaul Foundation Prize for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research and Technology Development in 2019. He is also PPPL Distinguished Research Fellow since 2022. He was the recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship in 1996.

Location: 700 Clark Hall (colloquium and reception), 220 Clark Hall (student Q&A)

December 4

New regimes of HED science on the National Ignition Facility

Bruce A. Remington, Program Leader for Discovery Science, National Ignition Facility, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

The Discovery Science program at NIF allows basic science to be pursued on NIF. A number of examples will be given in this presentation. Equations of state at extreme pressures relevant to planetary and exoplanet interiors are being measured (Döppner 2023, Gorman 2022, Polsin 2022). Studies of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities at high Reynolds number, relevant to supernova explosions, are being studied (Nagel 2017, Sauppe 2020). Experiments relevant to turbulent star formation dynamics are underway on NIF (Davidovits 2022, Dhawalikar 2022). Experiments to study magnetic reconnection at HED conditions have been done. [Valenzuela 2024] High velocity, low density interpenetrating plasmas that generate collisionless astrophysical shocks, magnetic fields, and that accelerate particles relevant to cosmic ray sources are also being studied (Fiuza 2020). And relativistically hot plasmas are being generated and studied on the NIF ARC laser, with possible relevance to gamma burst dynamics (Williams 2021). And the first plasma-electron nuclear screening experiment is under development on NIF (Casey 2023).

Host: Genady Shvets

About the speaker: Bruce Remington received his B.S. degree from Northern Michigan University in 1975 and his PhD in experimental heavy-ion nuclear physics from Michigan State University in 1986. He held a 2-yr postdoctoral appointment in the Physics Directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) working on nuclear modeling and simulations of pre-equilibrium reactions, then joined Laser Program [now the National Ignition Facility (NIF) Directorate] at LLNL in 1988. He has been a staff physicist in the Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) Program and/or High Energy Density (HED) Physics Program since 1988. He was a Group Leader from 1996 – 2014, and NIF Discovery Science (“basic science”) Program Leader, 2014 – present. He works on laser driven, high energy density (HED) hydrodynamic instabilities and mixing in in a variety of settings, HED laboratory astrophysics, and solid-state material dynamics at high pressures and strain rates (HED materials science). He is author/coauthor on over 450 publications in the areas of nuclear physics, plasma physics, HED materials science, hydrodynamics, and laboratory astrophysics. He is a recipient of the APS-DPP. Excellence in Plasma Physics award (now known as the Dawson award) for his work on ablation-front Rayleigh-Taylor (fluid) instability, and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He received the Edward Teller Medal in 2011 for “pioneering research and leadership in inertial fusion sciences and applications”, and he became a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff (DMTS) at LLNL in 2012. He is the recipient of the 2023 Duvall prize in shock physics which recognizes outstanding contributions to understanding condensed matter and non-linear physics through shock compression. Bruce is currently Program Leader for Discovery Science on NIF, which is the program that allows outside academics (and inside scientists, as well) to pursue basic science research using the NIF laser.

Location: 700 Clark Hall (colloquium and reception), 220 Clark Hall (student Q&A)