Roger Blandford || Extreme Electrodynamics of Compact Sources @ IST DF Colloquia (19.04.24)

Extreme Electrodynamics of Compact Sources
by Roger Blandford (Stanford University, USA)
Abstract:
The development of classical and quantum electrodynamics were highlights of nineteenth and twentieth century physics, respectively. Observations of neutron stars and black holes are taking these disciplines into new and extreme territory. We are seeing magnetic field of strength greater than 100 GT, potential differences more than 1 ZV, effective temperatures above 10^40 K, neutrinos and gamma rays with energy more than 1 PeV and 300 EeV cosmic rays. Recent discoveries will be described alongside the challenges they pose to computational, experimental, observational and theoretical plasma physics.