Connecting Micro and Macro Scales: Acceleration, Reconnection, and Dissipation in Astrophysical Plasmas

Coordinators: Damiano Caprioli, Matthew Kunz, Christopher Reynolds, and Ellen Zweibel

Fundamental plasma processes, such as shock acceleration, reconnection and turbulent transport impact the observational properties of a number of astrophysical objects, including supernova remnants, gamma-ray bursts, accretion disks, and clusters of galaxies. A combination of ab-initio kinetic simulations, analytical models, and the analysis of new observations is helping to uncover the physics of these important processes. A particular challenge in modeling of these objects is the ability of plasma processes to cause interdependence between the micro and macro scales, necessitating the inclusion of nonlinear feedback into models.

This conference will highlight the recent achievements and challenges in understanding nonlinear multiscale phenomena in astrophysical plasmas, bringing together theorists, simulators and observers who work on both astrophysical and space plasmas. The subjects will include the microphysics of shock acceleration and long range cosmic ray feedback in galaxies, the properties of reconnection in astrophysical and space plasmas, including its effect on particle acceleration, and the physics of turbulent cascades in magnetized plasmas of galaxy clusters and accretion disks.