Lecture

Introduction to Plasma Physics

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In course

PHYS-325: Introduction to plasma physics

Introduction à la physique des plasmas destinée à donner une vue globale des propriétés essentielles et uniques d'un plasma et à présenter les approches couramment utilisées pour modéliser son comportement. Application à la fusion thermonucléaire ainsi qu' ...

Description

This lecture covers the fundamental concepts of plasma physics, focusing on the dynamics of particles in electric and magnetic fields. Topics include magnetic confinement, particle motion in different field configurations, and the importance of understanding the dynamics of charges in plasmas. The lecture also delves into the equations governing the behavior of particles in these fields.

Instructors (2)

Stefano Alberti

Teaching & PhD Past EPFL PhD Students Gilles Arnoux, Falk Braunmüller, Jérémy Genoud

Joaquim Loizu Cisquella

Joaquim Loizu graduated in Physics at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, carrying out his Master thesis project at the Center for Bio-Inspired Technology, Imperial College London, on the theoretical and numerical study of the biophysics of light-sensitive neurons. In 2009, he started his PhD studies with Prof. Paolo Ricci at the Swiss Plasma Center, the major plasma and fusion laboratory in Switzerland. His thesis focused on the theory of plasma-wall interactions and their effect on the mean flows and turbulence in magnetized plasmas. He obtained his PhD in December 2013. In 2014, he joined the Max-Planck-Princeton Center for plasma research as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, spending one year at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and one year at the Max-Planck-Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald, Germany. During this time, he worked on three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics, studying the formation of singular currents and magnetic islands at rational surfaces. In 2016, he obtained a two-years Eurofusion Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out research at the Max-Planck-Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald, Germany. During this time, he focused on the computation of 3D MHD equilibria in stellarators, including the possibility of magnetic islands and magnetic field-line chaos. In 2018, he joined the Swiss Plasma Center as a Scientist and Lecturer. He is also one of the leaders of the Simons Collaboration on Hidden Symmetries and Fusion Energy. His current research interests include MHD equilibrium and stability, magnetic reconnection, self-organization, non-neutral plasmas, plasma sheaths, and plasma transport in chaotic magnetic fields.

Official source

Related concepts (32)

Genetic drift

Genetic drift, also known as random genetic drift, allelic drift or the Wright effect, is the change in the frequency of an existing gene variant (allele) in a population due to random chance. Genetic drift may cause gene variants to disappear completely and thereby reduce genetic variation. It can also cause initially rare alleles to become much more frequent and even fixed. When few copies of an allele exist, the effect of genetic drift is more notable, and when many copies exist, the effect is less notable.

Magnetic field

A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to the magnetic field. A permanent magnet's magnetic field pulls on ferromagnetic materials such as iron, and attracts or repels other magnets.

Exact solutions in general relativity

In general relativity, an exact solution is a solution of the Einstein field equations whose derivation does not invoke simplifying assumptions, though the starting point for that derivation may be an idealized case like a perfectly spherical shape of matter. Mathematically, finding an exact solution means finding a Lorentzian manifold equipped with tensor fields modeling states of ordinary matter, such as a fluid, or classical non-gravitational fields such as the electromagnetic field.

Founder effect

In population genetics, the founder effect is the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population. It was first fully outlined by Ernst Mayr in 1942, using existing theoretical work by those such as Sewall Wright. As a result of the loss of genetic variation, the new population may be distinctively different, both genotypically and phenotypically, from the parent population from which it is derived.

Trajectory

A trajectory or flight path is the path that an object with mass in motion follows through space as a function of time. In classical mechanics, a trajectory is defined by Hamiltonian mechanics via canonical coordinates; hence, a complete trajectory is defined by position and momentum, simultaneously. The mass might be a projectile or a satellite. For example, it can be an orbit — the path of a planet, asteroid, or comet as it travels around a central mass. In control theory, a trajectory is a time-ordered set of states of a dynamical system (see e.

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