Numerical Methods for Plasma Astrophysics:
From Particle Kinetics to MHD

CSIC Building (#406), Seminar Room 4122.
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Simulations of Force-free Relativistic MHD

Dr. Anatoly Spitkovsky

Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC) at Stanford University

Abstract:   I discuss the modeling of astrophyical outflows in the limit of high magnetization of the plasma. In this limit the particle inertia is negligible ("force-free") and the relativistic MHD equations can be reduced to an evolutionary system resembling Maxwell equations with a source term. I describe the mathematical properties of this "force-free relativistic MHD", the methods for its simulation based on finite-difference time-domain Maxwell solvers, and the limits of applicability of the approximation, such as formation of current sheets. In particular, the method is applied to simulate the formation of relativistic winds from magnetized neutron stars (pulsars), and provides the first time-dependent global simulation of the pulsar magnetosphere.