Plasma cosmology

Plasma cosmology is a non-standard cosmological model based on the electromagnetic properties of astrophysical plasmas. The stars and essentially all of the space between them is filled with plasma. Plasma cosmology attempts to explain the large scale structure of the universe, from galaxy formation to the cosmic microwave background in terms of this ubiquitous phase of matter. The theory was largely developed by plasma physicist Hannes Alfvén and subsequently developed by other plasma physicists such as Anthony Peratt and Eric Lerner.

Related Topics:
Non-standard cosmological - Electromagnetic - Astrophysical plasma - Plasma - Large scale structure of the universe - Cosmic microwave background - Hannes Alfvén - Anthony Peratt - Eric Lerner

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The properties of plasmas are well modelled by the science of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), the developement of which won Alfvén the Nobel Prize in 1970. MHD generally treats a plasma as an a perfectly conducting ideal fluid with little or no resistivity, and which Alfvén called a "magnetic field description". But based on his experimental work, Alfvén's also applied an "electric current description" to plasmas, whose properties are less well-known, such as Birkeland currents (field-align currents), double layers (charge separation regions), certain classes of plasma instabilities, and chemical separation in space plasmas. An extended version of MHD encompassing an electric field description and some of these more complex phenomena is called Hall-magnetohydrodynamics (Hall-MHD or HMHD).

Related Topics:
Magnetohydrodynamics - Birkeland current - Double layer - Instabilities

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Plasma cosmology can be thought to have originated in 1913 when Kristian Birkeland proposed that the Solar Wind consisted of ions (ie. a plasma). In 1937, his work was subsequently revived and developed by Hannes Alfvén, who argued that if plasma pervaded the universe, then it could carry electric currents that could generate a galactic magnetic field. Many years afterward, space was still thought to be a vacuum. Later Alfvén had also theorised the existence of anti-plasma or ambiplasma, but the idea never came into favour.

Related Topics:
Kristian Birkeland - Hannes Alfvén - Vacuum - Ambiplasma

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