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Speaker: Luca Comisso, Columbia University

Title: From Turbulence to Reconnection to Particle Acceleration: Connecting the Dots

Abstract: Plasma turbulence, magnetic reconnection, and particle acceleration underpin and drive a multitude of plasma phenomena across a wide spectrum of environments, from laboratory to astrophysical scales. It comes as no surprise therefore that they constitute three vibrant research areas at the frontier of modern plasma physics and astrophysics. Originally, these three paradigms were treated as distinct plasma processes. However, with the rapid advances in computing, experiments, observations and theory, they are converging towards an interconnected and entangled domain. This ongoing progress holds the potential for solving long-standing problems in many areas of plasma astrophysics ranging from the thermal disequilibration of ions and electrons in collisionless accretion flows to the genesis of the most energetic particles in the Universe. In this talk, I will outline recent developments and future challenges on this fast-growing front. Using a powerful combination of first-principles kinetic simulations and analytical modeling, I will highlight novel insights arising from my research in plasma self-organization regulated by the mutual interplay of turbulence and magnetic reconnection, and the underlying physical principles that link these processes to the acceleration of particles to high energies.

Bio: Luca Comisso is a plasma astrophysicist who employs analytic theory and large scale numerical simulations to explore the plasma processes underpinning the generation of energetic particles from various astrophysical sources such as the Sun, Neutron Stars, and Black Holes. Luca is currently an associate research scientist in the Department of Astronomy at Columbia University. Previously, he trained as a postdoctoral researcher at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and the Department of Astrophysical Sciences of Princeton University, from 2015 to 2017, and at the Department of Astronomy of Columbia University from 2017 to 2020. He received his Ph.D. in plasma physics from the Polytechnic University of Turin. Before pursuing his passion for physics, he obtained a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering and a master's degree in space engineering from the Polytechnic University of Milan. Comisso’s research has contributed to the advancement of different research areas in plasma physics and astrophysics, including plasma turbulence, magnetic reconnection, particle acceleration, and general relativistic plasmas around black holes.