Aims of the group
The main objective of our group is the study of astrophysical phenomena,
specially those in which the physics of plasmas is directly relevant. In
particular, we are interested in astrophysical problems, such as: heating
of the solar corona, propagation of energetic particles, stellar winds,
stellar dynamos or accretion disks.
Incidentally, we have also addressed various theoretical problems related
the dynamics of magnetofluids or to kinetic plasma processes, such as: numerical
simulations of fluids and magnetofluids, stability of stationary solutions
of the MHD equations, closure models for MHD turbulence, Fokker-Planck description
of electron beams or the development of plasma turbulence. Although these
problems have been studied from a purely theoretical point of view, most of
them are directly relevant to a number of astrophysical phenomena (
Click here
for a more complete description of our research
interests).
History of the group
The group was created in 1984 by Dr. Ferro
Fontán
, who is also the head of the group. In the beginning, the activity was
centered in the formation of young researchers in plasma astrophysics. Various
master and PhD thesis were completed during this first stage, under the supervision
of Dr. Ferro Fontán. In a second stage, some of these doctors held
postdoctoral positions abroad and returned to the group. Currently, a third
generation of plasma astrophysicists joined the group, either for their
graduation thesis or as graduate students of the
Department of Physics
of the University of Buenos Aires
. The group is currently composed by seven researchers and three graduate
students. The group activities are performed at the
Institute of Astronomy and Space Physics (IAFE)
(CONICET-UBA) and the Department of Physics (Facultad de Ciencias Exactas
y Naturales, UBA), located at the
Ciudad Universitaria
(Buenos Aires, Argentina). The researchers of the group regularly teach
graduate courses
at the Department of Physics, such as: Plasma Physics, Turbulence in
Astrophysical Plasmas, General Astrophysics or Dynamical Systems.
