Simran Chowdry

Simran Chowdry is a PhD candidate in nuclear science and engineering who studies magnetic reconnection in astrophysical plasmas. Specifically, she is exploring the impact of radiative cooling processes and instabilities on the energy partition and dynamics of plasmoid instability in magnetic reconnection. Simran’s achievements to date include uncovering new phenomena taking place because of the coupling between two distinct plasma instabilities and the development of a novel algorithm to track plasmoids as they grow and then collapse due to strong radiative cooling. This tracking algorithm revealed that larger plasmoids collapse more slowly than smaller plasmoids, an unexpected result that has expanded our understanding of radiative collapse. Simran has made extensive use of, and built valuable additions to, MathWorks tools, including the Plasmoid Tracker Code and the Fundamental Plasma Toolbox. Her work is yielding valuable insights into the study of magnetic reconnection, a key underlying mechanism in a diverse range of highly dynamic events in our solar system and beyond, from the aurora in near-Earth space to space-weather events like solar flares to jets from supermassive black holes.