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Student Colloquium, Nikolaj Roager Christensen: How physics simulations work: simulating particles in electric and magnetic fields

[Translate to English:] A plot of the path of a particle in a Torus-shaped solenoid

Info about event

Time

Thursday 31 March 2022,  at 15:15 - 16:00

Location

Fys. Aud.

Supervisor: Dmitri Fedorov

In this Student Colloquium, I wish to demonstrate a numerical simulation of single classical particles in various magnetic and electric setups. The main goal is to show why charged particles will follow the magnetic field, even though the magnetic force on a particle is perpendicular to the direction of the field. As a starting point, I will re-create the well-known behaviour of particles in a constant magnetic field, then I will demonstrate how and why magnetic fields can concentrate or trap charged particles, using as examples toroidal coils, such as the ones in  Tokamak-style fusion reactors, I will also explain how this relates to the naturally occurring magnetic field of the Earth. Finally I will use my simulation to demonstrate a classical cyclotron particle accelerator, as an example of combined electric and magnetic setups.