Leonid Malyshkin

Senior Research Associate, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics

Education: Ph.D., Princeton University, 2001; M.S., Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, 1997

Contact Information

Phone: (773) 702-5837
Location: TAAC 53
Email: leonmalflash.uchicago.edu

Research

Magnetic fields are present everywhere in the Universe, in systems of vastly different scales ranging from centimeters in laboratory plasma experiments to megaparsecs in clusters of galaxies. These magnetic fields play a vital role for energy balance, dynamic equilibrium, and transport of charged particles in most laboratory plasma and astrophysical systems, such as tokamaks, the Earth's magnetosphere, the solar corona, ISM and IGM. Magnetic fields are dynamic, there is an energy exchange constantly going on between plasmas and fields. I study the dynamo action process by which cosmic magnetic fields are created and evolved. I also work on magnetic reconnection process by which the topology of a magnetic field is changed, the field is destroyed, and the magnetic energy is transferred to plasma kinetic energy, heat and accelerated charged particles.

Selected publications:

Malyshkin, L., and Zweibel, E., 2011, Onset of fast magnetic reconnection in partially ionized gases, Astrophysical Journal, Volume 739, p. 72
Malyshkin, L., and Boldyrev, S., 2010, Magnetic dynamo action at low magnetic Prandtl numbers, Physical Review Letters, Volume 105, id. 215002
Malyshkin, L., 2009, Model of two-fluid reconnection, Physical Review Letters, Volume 103, id. 235004
Malyshkin, L., and Boldyrev, S., 2009, Magnetic dynamo action in astrophysical turbulence, Astrophysical Journal, Volume 697, p. 1433
Malyshkin, L., 2008, Model of Hall reconnection, Physical Review Letters, Volume 101, id. 225001

Research Fields: Computational Astrophysics

Scientific Projects

Current Projects: Center for Magnetic Self Organization in Astrophysical and Laboratory Plasmas

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