Description
Leader of the group Multiscale Dynamics: Ute Ebert.
Nature and technology are full of dynamics, often involving multiple scales in length, time and energy. To model these processes, we combine scientific computing with model reduction and machine learning, with particular focus on plasma dynamics in lightning and space weather, and in high voltage and plasma technology.
Our research addresses questions in nature such as start and propagation of lightning strokes, terrestrial gamma-ray flashes and space weather, and closely related technological problems such as switch gear for long-distance electricity nets, air purification and disinfection with corona reactors, and protection of satellites and electricity nets from space weather.
Within national and European projects, we collaborate with colleagues in applied plasma physics, electrical and mechanical engineering, atmospheric electricity, and cosmic particle and space science, and with non-academic partners such as ABB, DNV-GL, ESA-ESTEC and NASA.
Find more about our work (including publications) on the personal homepages of the staff scientists:
- Ute Ebert (group leader)
- Enrico Camporeale
- Jannis Teunissen (starting 1 October 2018)
and on the page with our numerical codes for Multiscale Plasma Dynamics.
View a photo of the Multiscale Dynamics group.
Vacancies
PhD student on computational models for lightning physics
The Multiscale Dynamics group has a vacancy for a PhD student on computational models for lightning physics.
Postdoc on the subject of Machine Learning and Space Weather
The position involves research in machine learning techniques and Bayesian inference, applied to real-time forecasting of energetic electrons in the Earth radiation belts. These electrons can be harmful to satellites, whose disruption can potentially lead to catastrophic societal and economic events. The emerging field of Space Weather is concerned with making accurate predictions of such dangerous events, sufficiently in advance so that countermeasures can be taken. The aim of this project is to advance our space weather prediction capability by enhancing physics based models with a new data-driven probabilistic framework. The project will involve state-of-the-art numerical simulations, Bayesian parameters estimation, uncertainty quantification and machine learning techniques.
News
Cum laude for 3D modelling of pulsed discharges in air
PhD student Jannis Teunissen from Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) has made major progress in modelling the early stages of electric discharges as they occur in lightning, high voltage electricity nets and plasma technology. He received a 'cum laude' predicate for his thesis '3D Simulations and Analysis of Pulsed Discharges', which he defended on 12 November 2015 at Eindhoven University of Technology.
Jannis Teunissen wins GEC15 Student Award of Excellence
Jannis Teunissen from Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, won the Student Award of Excellence of the GEC for his talk 'Advances in the three-dimensional simulation of streamer discharges' at the joint meeting of the
Start of lightning explained: hail and cosmic particles
For the first time researchers demonstrate how lightning is started: by a combination of hail and high energy particles from space, originating from exploding stars. A cosmic ray produces a shower of electrons.
Exploding stars help to understand thunderclouds on Earth
How is lightning initiated in thunderclouds? This is difficult to answer – how do you measure electric fields inside large, dangerously charged clouds? It was discovered, more or less by coincidence, that cosmic rays provide suitable probes to measure electric fields within thunderclouds. This surprising finding will be published in Physical Review Letters on April 24nd.
Members
Associated Members
Publications
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Johnson, J.R, Wing, S.P, & Camporeale, E. (2018). Transfer entropy and cumulant-based cost as measures of nonlinear causal relationships in space plasmas: Applications to Dst. Annales Geophysicae, 36(4), 945–952. doi:10.5194/angeo-36-945-2018
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Agnihotri, A. (2018, June 25). Modeling heat dominated electrical breakdown.
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Elkholy, A, Nijdam, S, van Veldhuizen, E.M, Dam, N, van Oijen, J, Ebert, U. M, & de Goey, L.P.H. (2018). Characteristics of a novel nanosecond DBD microplasma reactor for flow applications. Plasma Sources Science and Technology, 27. doi:10.1088/1361-6595/aabf49
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Vier nieuwe consultants aan de slag bij Solid Professionals - Consultancy.nl - 27-03-18. (2018). Vier nieuwe consultants aan de slag bij Solid Professionals - Consultancy.nl - 27-03-18.
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Rutjes, C. (2018, March 15). Modeling high energy atmospheric physics and lightning inception.
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Radioactiviteit uit onweer - Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Natuurkunde (NTvN) - 01-03-18. (2018). Radioactiviteit uit onweer - Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Natuurkunde (NTvN) - 01-03-18.
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Kwon, D.-H, Lee, W, Preval, S, Ballance, C.P, Behar, E, Colgan, J, … Braams, B.J. (2018). Iso-nuclear tungsten dielectronic recombination rates for use in magnetically-confined fusion plasmas. Atomic Data and Nuclear Data Tables, 119(January 2018), 250–262.
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De baan van de bliksem blijkt korte tijd radioactief - NRC Handelsblad - 23-11-17. (2017). De baan van de bliksem blijkt korte tijd radioactief - NRC Handelsblad - 23-11-17.
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De baan van de bliksem blijkt korte tijd radioactief - NRC NEXT - 23-11-2017. (2017). De baan van de bliksem blijkt korte tijd radioactief - NRC NEXT - 23-11-2017.
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Camporeale, E, Carè, A, & Borovsky, J.E. (2017). Classification of solar wind with machine learning. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 122(11), 10910–10920. doi:10.1002/2017JA024383
Software
Afivo: A framework for adaptive mesh refinement with geometric multigrid methods
Afivo, short for Adaptive Finite Volume Octree, is a framework for adaptive mesh refinement on quadtree (2D) and octree (3D) meshes with shared memory parallelization (OpenMP) and geometric multigrid methods.
PumpKin: Analyzing complex chemistry models
PumpKin, short for Pathway Reduction Method for Plasma Kinetic Models, is a tool for post-processing results from zero-dimensional plasma kinetics solvers.
Current projects with external funding
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Real-time forecasting of killer electrons on satellite orbits
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Artificial Intelligence Data Analysis (AIDA)
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Let CO2 spark! Understand breakdown dynamics for high voltage technology and lightning Abstract Sparks, (Let CO2 spark!)
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Science and Innovation with Thunderstorms (SAINT)
Related partners
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CNRS
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CSIC
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IT-DTU Lyngby
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Universita di Pisa
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Universitetet i Bergen
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University of Bath
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Bristol Industrial and Research Associates Limited
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DENA DESARROLLOS SL
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Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
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Technische Universiteit Eindhoven
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Universidad Politecnica Catalunya
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Université Paul Sabatier (Toulouse III)