Magnetic Field Generation and Stability in High-Energy Density Plasmas

Abstract

The generation of magnetic fields in plasmas, either astrophysical or in laser experiments, is not well understood. One proposed mechanism is the Biermann battery effect, which goes with (\nabla)n({e}) (\times) (\nabla)p({e}) and is derived from a general form of Ohm's law. This effect is derived from fluid mechanics approximations of plasmas, and has not been determined from first principles kinematics. In this thesis, we perform a particle-in-cell simulation of plasma particles and computationally examine this effect. We find that this effect does contribute to magnetic field. We further find that the scalar pressure approximation does not fully cover the magnetic field generation after early simulation times, and by replacing the pressure with the pressure tensor achieve significantly better agreement. This thesis provides one of the first analyses of this effect from kinematics.