Thomas W. O. Varnish

Thomas W. O. Varnish is a PhD candidate in nuclear science and engineering whose research focuses on magnetic reconnection, an explosive reconfiguration of magnetic field topology in a plasma that rapidly dissipates magnetic energy by heating and accelerating the plasma. Specifically, Thomas is exploring a special case of this process known as guide-field magnetic reconnection, in which a component of the magnetic field is directed out of the plane of reconnection. As a MathWorks Fellow, he is playing a lead role in the construction of PUFFIN, a new microsecond pulsed-power generator that will enable the first quasi-steady-state studies of many plasma phenomena. Through PUFFIN, Thomas will study how the stability and evolution of the reconnection layer are affected by a guide field and will implement advanced diagnostics such as Faraday imaging. MATLAB Simulink and Simuscape are essential to PUFFIN’s construction and Thomas’s work in general. His research has the potential to offer important insights into magnetic reconnection and plasma physics and associated phenomena such as solar flares, black hole accretion disks, and supernovae.