The plasma physics of galaxy clusters in a cosmological context: connecting micro and macro scales

ended

The intracluster medium provides a window into the formation history of galaxy clusters and understanding its detailed dynamics (e.g. turbulence and heating/cooling balance) is of paramount importance for cosmology, galaxy formation, and even plasma physics. Upcoming X-ray telescopes will soon be able to directly measure the velocity of the intracluster medium in exquisite detail. This is bound to revolutionize our understanding of galaxy cluster dynamics, merger activity, and fundamental plasma processes across a vast range of scales under conditions which are impossible in terrestrial labs. These imminent advances in observational X-ray astronomy demand a similar advancement in our theoretical understanding. A severe limitation of current cosmological simulations is that they assume that the intracluster medium is fully collisional even though it is known to be only weakly collisional. This MCSA Fellowship will allow me to perform the first cosmological galaxy cluster simulations that move beyond the collisional assumption in order to make detailed predictions for the weakly collisional turbulent medium. The results of this work will be useful for observers using galaxy clusters in order to to constrain cosmological parameters and to plasma physicists using galaxy clusters as a plasma physics laboratory. I will carry out the project at the Niels Bohr Institute in collaboration with Prof. Troels Haugbølle, who is an expert on zoom simulations, plasma physics, cosmology and turbulence, and with Dr. Henrik Latter, an expert on the physics of weakly collisional plasmas, during a secondment at the University of Cambridge. The MCSA Fellowship will allow me to take leadership in the emerging field of high-fidelity comparisons between cosmological simulations and X-ray observations and its extensive training program will prepare me well for my next career stage as I seek to build my own group and obtain a permanent position in Europe.