Mathematisches Kolloquium

Dienstag, 10.07.2012 18:00 Uhr

On the stability of the free plasma-vacuum interface

Herr Prof. Paolo Secchi, Università di Brescia

We consider the free boundary problem for the plasma-vacuum interface in ideal compressible magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). In the plasma region the flow is governed by the usual compressible MHD equations, while in the vacuum region we consider the pre-Maxwell dynamics for the magnetic field. At the free-interface we assume that the total pressure is continuous and that the magnetic field is tangent to the boundary.

Problems of this kind appear in the mathematical modeling of plasma confinement by magnetic fields. In astrophysics, the plasma-vacuum interface problem can be used for modeling the motion of a star or the solar corona.

In our talk we will discuss the well-posedness of the problem in anisotropic Sobolev spaces under a suitable stability condition satisfied at each point of the initial discontinuity.

This is a joint work with Y. Trakhinin (Novosibirsk).

Zeit: 18:00 Uhr

Ort: Hörsaal III, Hauptgebäude, RWTH Aachen, Templergraben 55, 52056 Aachen