Gas at temperatures exceeding one million degrees is common in the Universe. Indeed it is likely that most of the gas in the Universe exists in intergalactic space in this form. Such highly-ionized gas, or plasma, is not restricted to the rarefied densities of intergalactic space, but is also found in clusters of galaxies, in galaxies themselves, in the expanding remnants of exploded stars and at higher densities in stars and the collapsed remains of stars up to the highest densities known, which occur in neutron stars. The abundant lower-Z elements, at least, in such gas are completely ionized and the gas acts as a highly conducting plasma. It is therefore subject to many cooperative phenomena, which are often complicated and ill-understood. Many of these processes are, however, well-studied (if not so well-understood) in laboratory plasmas and in the near environment of the Earth. Astronomers therefore have much to learn from plasma physicists working on laboratory and space plasmas and the parameter range studied by the plasma physicists might in turn be broadened by contact with astronomers. With that in mind, a NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Physical Processes in Hot Cosmic Plasmas was organized and took place in the Eolian Hotel, Vulcano, Italy on May 29 to June 2 1989. This book contains the Proceedings of that Workshop.

Gas at temperatures exceeding one million degrees is common in the Universe. Indeed it is likely that most of the gas in the Universe exists in intergalactic space in this form. Such highly-ionized gas, or plasma, is not restricted to the rarefied densities of intergalactic space, but is also found in clusters of galaxies, in galaxies themselves, in the expanding remnants of exploded stars and at higher densities in stars and the collapsed remains of stars up to the highest densities known, which occur in neutron stars. The abundant lower-Z elements, at least, in such gas are completely ionized and the gas acts as a highly conducting plasma. It is therefore subject to many cooperative phenomena, which are often complicated and ill-understood. Many of these processes are, however, well-studied (if not so well-understood) in laboratory plasmas and in the near environment of the Earth. Astronomers therefore have much to learn from plasma physicists working on laboratory and space plasmas and the parameter range studied by the plasma physicists might in turn be broadened by contact with astronomers. With that in mind, a NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Physical Processes in Hot Cosmic Plasmas was organized and took place in the Eolian Hotel, Vulcano, Italy on May 29 to June 2 1989. This book contains the Proceedings of that Workshop.

In three lectures on magnetohydrodynamics, on kinetic plasma physics and on particle acceleration, leading experts describe the physical basis of their subjects and extend the discussion to several applications in modern problems of astrophysics. The themes developed in this book will be helpful in understanding many processes in the universe from the solar corona to active galaxies.

The first comprehensive and up-to-date review of our new understanding of accretion disks around black holes - with chapters from experts from around the world.

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 93. A principal goal of space plasma researchers is to understand the influence of various transport processes on each other, even when such processes operate at widely varying spatial and temporal scales. We know that large-scale plasma flows in space lead to unstable conditions with small spatial (centimeters to meters) and temporal (microseconds to seconds) scales. The large-scale flows, for example in the magnetosphere-ionosphere system, involve scale lengths of kilometers to several Earth radii and temporal scales of minutes to hours. We must know specific contextual answers to the questions: Do the small-scale waves (microprocesses) modify the large-scale flows? Do these modifications significantly affect the transport of mass, momentum, and energy? How can such coupling processes and their influences be revealed observationally? And, perhaps most challenging of all, how do we incorporate the microprocesses into theoretical models of larger-scale space plasma transport?

The aim of this book is twofold: to provide an introduction for newcomers to state of the art computer simulation techniques in space plasma physics and an overview of current developments. Computer simulation has reached a stage where it can be a highly useful tool for guiding theory and for making predictions of space plasma phenomena, ranging from microscopic to global scales. The various articles are arranged, as much as possible, according to the - derlying simulation technique, starting with the technique that makes the least number of assumptions: a fully kinetic approach which solves the coupled set of Maxwell’s equations for the electromagnetic ?eld and the equations of motion for a very large number of charged particles (electrons and ions) in this ?eld. Clearly, this is also the computationally most demanding model. Therefore, even with present day high performance computers, it is the most restrictive in terms of the space and time domain and the range of particle parameters that can be covered by the simulation experiments. It still makes sense, therefore, to also use models, which due to their simp- fying assumptions, seem less realistic, although the e?ect of these assumptions on the outcome of the simulation experiments needs to be carefully assessed.