Astrophysics & Particle Physics-APPC 2026

Plasma Astrophysics is the investigation of ionized gas (plasmas) and their dynamics within cosmic contexts. Plasmas are the most prevalent state of matter in the universe, occurring within stars, interstellar and intergalactic media, planetary magnetospheres, and astrophysical jets. Explaining plasma behavior is central to understanding a large variety of astrophysical phenomena.A key emphasis of plasma astrophysics is magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), which is a description of the way electrically conducting fluids respond to magnetic fields. MHD processes control stellar wind dynamics, solar corona, accretion disks, and magnetic reconnection phenomena, controlling energy transport, plasma flow, and particle acceleration.

Plasma astrophysics also investigates astrophysical jets, pulsar magnetospheres, and propagation of cosmic rays, in which plasmas' interaction with intense magnetic fields generates high-energy radiation and relativistic outflows. Plasma instabilities, waves, and turbulence are major mechanisms determining the structure and evolution of cosmic plasmas.Plasma phenomena are studied under extreme magnetic fields, densities, and temperatures by using space-based telescopes and satellites, such as X-ray/gamma-ray detectors and solar observatories, in association with numerical simulations. These investigations explain solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and space weather, along with the physics of black hole and neutron star accretion.Plasma astrophysics connects theory, computation, and observation to investigate the basic processes that control energy transfer, particle acceleration, and magnetic field evolution in the universe.

It sheds light on stellar activity, galaxy evolution, and the interstellar medium's dynamics and is thus a foundation stone of high-energy astrophysics and space science.Science can disentangle how magnetic fields, radiation, and matter evolve on all scales from stellar interiors through galactic and intergalactic environments by understanding cosmic plasmas, fashioning the visible universe and high-energy phenomena in space.