Numerical studies of plasma instabilities in weakly collisional, magnetized plasmas.

Dynamic phenomena in weakly collisional, magnetized plasmas are of importance for example in lower layers of the ionosphere. In flowing plasmas, the plasma can become unstable, and different kind of instabilities can arise. Examples are the Farley-Buneman instability, or the loss-cone type of instabilities. To properly understand them, numerical simulations at kinetic levels are needed.

The task of this project will be to study numerically, with a three dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) code the evolution of plasma characterised by different collision frequencies. The candidate will be a member of a larger team, and will contribute to the development of a large PIC code by implementing and testing the collisional modules. The experimental part will include numerical experiments on a supercomputer, and analysis of the results in the context of theoretical expectations.