Speaker: Sasha Philippov, University of Maryland and SCEECS
Abstract: Astrophysical compact objects, such as neutron stars and black holes, are powerful sources of non-thermal electromagnetic emission spanning many orders of magnitude in photon energy, from radio waves to multi-TeV gamma-rays, and, potentially, of high-energy neutrinos and cosmic rays. Despite multiple groundbreaking observational discoveries done in recent years, our understanding of the dynamics of relativistic plasmas that produce these multi-messenger signatures remains limited. In this talk, I will describe the activities of the recently started Simons Collaboration on Extreme Electrodynamics of Compact Sources (SCEECS) aiming at producing first-principles descriptions of relativistic and radiative plasmas near compact objects. I will show a few examples of modeling the observed light coming from these remarkable astrophysical laboratories using numerical simulations.