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The Flash Center for Computational Science has been
home to several cross-disciplinary computational
research projects in its 20-year existence.
Anchoring our work is the FLASH code, an open
radiation MHD simulation code for plasma physics and
astrophysics with a wide international user base.
Research projects include the on-going development
of the FLASH code, the study of astrophysical
processes mediated by magnetic fields, HPC
simulation campaigns on the largest supercomputers
in the world, and our breakthrough Laboratory
Astrophysics experiments at the world's largest
laser facilities. READ
MORE ABOUT US IN PHYSICS TODAY...
The Flash Center Code Group is pleased to announce the release of an updated version of the FLASH code: FLASH 4.7! The DOWNLOAD is available to all with a username and password. For new users, or to update your email address, please initiate a CODE REQUEST.
Read more about the release HERE, as well as at the website of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics of the University of Rochester.
News
Release on EurekAlert!, By Clea Boorman,
University of Oxford, March 9, 2022
The inner workings of heat conduction in galaxy clusters
have been unravelled by a collaboration of international
researchers led by the University of Oxford, University
of Rochester and the University of Chicago... Read here
the University
of Oxford press release, as well as the press
releases from the
Laboratory for Laser Energetics, the
University of Rochester, the
University of Chicago, and the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where
the experiments took place.
*Also read our paper in Science
Advances
We are pleased and excited to announce that, as of October 25, 2021, the Flash Center for Computational Science officially moved from the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the University of Chicago to the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Rochester! Read more about the move HERE, as well as the University of Rochester, the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, and the LaserNetUS websites.
The Flash Center's Director, Petros Tzeferacos received a research award from the Department of Energy’s Early Career Research program, in support of the Center's research in high-energy-density (HED) magnetized plasma turbulence. Read more about it HERE on LLE's website.
ALCF
News Center, By Nils Heinonen, November 1, 2021
ALCF simulations inform groundbreaking experiments to
study cosmic magnetic fields... READ
THE HIGHLIGHT HERE...
UR
Newscenter, By Lindsey Valich, March 11, 2021
Laser-driven experiments conducted on the OMEGA laser at
the University of Rochester capture for the first time
in a laboratory setting the time history of the growth
of magnetic fields by the turbulent dynamo... READ
HERE THE PRESS RELEASE...
*Also read our paper in PNAS
The Flash Center's Director, Petros Tzeferacos was awarded $2 million to provide ARPA-E BETHE projects with theory and modeling capabilities for new fusion experiments and concepts. Read more about it HERE on UR's Newscenter.
The Flash Center's Business Administrator Ellen Harder is in the Spotlight HERE on UChicago's Physical Sciences Division Website.
APS
NEWS, July 12, 2019
PETROS TZEFERACOS and DONALD
LAMB are among the recipients of the American
Physical Society’s 2019 Dawson Award for their
“innovative experiments that demonstrate turbulent
dynamo in the laboratory, establishing laboratory
experiments as a component in the study of turbulent
magnetized plasmas, and opening a new path to laboratory
investigations of other astrophysical processes.”
The Flash Center Code Group is pleased to announce the release of an updated version of the FLASH code: FLASH 4.6! The DOWNLOAD is available to all with a username and password. For new users, or to update your email address, please initiate a CODE REQUEST.
UChicago
PSD Press Release, October 29, 2018
As The Flash Center celebrates its 20th anniversary,
Research Assistant Professor Petros Tzeferacos steps
into his new role as Director.
READ THE ARTICLE AT THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES DIVISION
WEBSITE
UChicago
News, By Robert Mitchum, February 9, 2018
Flash Center astrophysicists demonstrate turbulent
dynamo, the mechanism thought to generate cosmic
magnetic fields, using world’s most powerful lasers...
READ
THE ARTICLE AT UCHICAGO NEWS...
*Also read our paper in NATURE
COMMUNICATIONS
UChicago
News, By Robert Mitchum, January 4, 2018
Flash Center and MIT scientists describe a new method
for acquiring quantitative, high-resolution information
about magnetic fields... READ
THE ARTICLE AT UCHICAGO NEWS...
*Also read our paper in REVIEW
OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS
The Flash Center Code Group is pleased to announce the release of an updated version of the FLASH code: FLASH 4.5! This update has a moderate amount of changes from FLASH 4.4, and a number of new features. The DOWNLOAD is available to all with a username and password. For new users, or to update your email address, please initiate a CODE REQUEST.
VIEW A PHOTO HERE of the team at the National Laser Users Facility and the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester.
Magnetic fields are everywhere in the universe, from the
Sun and other stars, to galaxies and clusters of
galaxies. But the origin of these magnetic fields, and
why they are as strong as they are, remain a mystery.
Nonlinear amplification of seed magnetic fields by
turbulence is a widely invoked explanation for how
cosmic magnetic fields become as strong as we observe
them to be. But this mechanism – which is called the
turbulent dynamo – has never been demonstrated in the
laboratory.
Now, an international team of scientists led by the
Flash Center for Computational Science has been awarded
time at the Omega laser – one of the most powerful
lasers in the world – to create a magnetized turbulent
plasma and see if the seed magnetic fields are amplified
by an enormous amount, as scientists have postulated. To
do this, the team fires intense lasers at two targets,
creating two plasma jets that each flow through a grid
and become turbulent. The jets then collide, making the
plasma even more turbulent. The experiment is expected
to produce magnetic Reynolds numbers Rm > 1000 – far
greater than the value Rm > 200 theorists say is needed
for the turbulent dynamo mechanism to work.
The international scientific team conducting the
experiment includes members from the University of
Oxford, UK; the University of Rochester; the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory; ETH Zurich, Switzerland;
Ecole Polytechnique, France; and the Ulsan National
Institute of Science and Technology, Korea; as well as
the Flash Center at the University of Rochester. The
experiment at the Omega laser and the Flash Center’s
research in high energy density physics are both
supported by the U.S. Department of Energy National
Nuclear Security Administration.
FLASH full-physics 3D simulation of the Omega TDYNO experiments. Two foil targets, machined with cylindrical wells in the center, are illuminated with lasers to drive colliding flows. In the path of the flows, two meshes are placed to stir turbulence with a controlled driving scale. The time lapses of magnetic field magnitude show the laser-driven jets traversing the grids and colliding at the center. The self-generated Biermann battery fields are amplified to hundreds of kG by the induced turbulence.
