This workshop, supported by the Simons Foundation,
has been postponed because of Covid-19 concerns.

What:   2020 Simons Workshop on Singularities in Fluids and Plasmas
When:   Wed, Mar 18, 2020, 9:00 am    to    Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 5:00 pm
Where:   Princeton Center for Theoretical Science (PCTS:  4th floor, Jadwin Hall)
Directions: https://www.princeton.edu/meet-princeton/visit-us

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Overview

Finite-time singularities of the Navier-Stokes equation is a Millenium Prize problem (http://www.claymath.org), and has significant consequences for theories of  vortex reconnection and fluid turbulence. The analogous problem of current singularities (whether finite-time or not) has deep implications for fast magnetic reconnection and plasma turbulence. Such current singularities, even when regularized by dissipation, have significant physical implications for problems as diverse as stellar coronal heating (Parker problem) and turbulence, neutron star mergers (including general relativistic effects), space weather, and last but not least, three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic equilibria in toroidal plasmas which play a critical role in determining optimum topologies for magnetic confinement. A recent multi-institutional research program led from Princeton University and supported by the Simons Foundation on “Hidden Symmetries and Fusion Energy” (https://hiddensymmetries.princeton.edu) provides a great and timely opportunity to bring together a diverse group of computational physicists, fluid dynamicists, mathematicians, and  plasma physicists to discuss problems of common interest at this Workshop.

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Schedule

   (Download schedule here)

Simons Workshop on Singularities in Fluids and Plasmas
Princeton Center for Theoretical Science, March 18-20, 2020
March 18
8:00‑9:00	Registration and Continental Breakfast
SESSION I     Chair: A. Bhattacharjee		Speaker	Video Link
9:00‑9:10	Welcome and logistics	A. Bhattacharjee PPPL
9:10‑9:50	A few remarks on singularities in incompressible fluids	Peter Constantin Princeton University
9:50‑10:30	Non-conservation of the dimension for passive and active scalars	Jose Rodrigo University of Warwick
10:30‑11:00	Coffee
11:00‑11:40	On a sufficient condition for finite-time singularity in Kida-Pelz flow	Chung-Sang Ng University of Alaska-Fairbanks
11:40‑12:10	Discussion of Session I Talks
12:10‑1:30	Lunch
SESSION II     Chair: P. Helander		Speaker	Video Link
1:30‑2:10	Inverse problem for an equilibrium current sheet	Robert Dewar Australian National University
2:10‑2:50	Current singularity formation in line-tied magnetic fields	Yao Zhou PPPL
2:50‑3:20	Coffee
3:20‑4:00	Lessons learned about the existence and accessibility of three-dimensional ideal MHD equilibria	Joaquim Loizu EPFL-Lausanne
4:00‑4:40	Machine learning from a continuous viewpoint	Weinan E Princeton University
4:40‑5:10	Discussion of Session II talks
6:30‑9:00	Workshop Dinner: Nassau Inn
March 19
8:30‑9:00	Continental Breakfast
SESSION III     Chair: R. MacKay		Speaker	Video Link
9:00‑9:40	Quasisymmetric solutions to forced MHD	Daniel Ginsburg Princeton
9:40‑10:20	An ideal magnetic evolution contains the seed of its own destruction	Allen Boozer Columbia University
10:20‑10:40	Coffee
10:40‑11:20	Near-singular currents and flows near magnetic islands in magnetically confined plasmas	Allan Reiman PPPL
11:20‑12:00	Elimination of MHD current sheets by modifications to the plasma wall in a fixed boundary model	Eugenia Kim Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University
12:00‑12:30	Discussion of Session III talks
12:30‑1:30	Lunch
SESSION IV     Chair: P. Constantin		Speaker	Video Link
1:30‑2:10	Singularities in high-Reynolds number turbulence	Katepalli Sreenivasan New York University
2:10‑2:50	The power spectrum of passive scalar turbulence in the Batchelor regime	Jacob Bedrossian University of Maryland
2:50‑3:20	Coffee
3:20‑4:00	Uniqueness of Whitham’s highest cusped wave	Alberto Enciso ICMAT
4:00‑4:40	Lagrangian and Dirac constraints and geodesic flow for the ideal incompressible fluid and MHD	Philip Morrison University of Texas at Austin
4:40‑5:10	Discussion on Session IV talks
March 20
8:30‑9:00	Continental Breakfast
SESSION V     Chair: R. Dewar		Speaker	Video Link
9:00‑9:40	The Hasimoto-Madelung transform and skew-mean-curvature flow in Euler hydrodynamics	Boris Khesin University of Toronto (remotely)	Join Zoom Meeting
9:40‑10:20	Singular equilibria and meta-stability	Steven Cowley PPPL
10:20‑10:40	Coffee
10:40‑11:20	Formation of current sheets in relativistic magnetospheres of black holes and neutron stars	Alexander Philippov Center for Computational Astrophysics, The Flatiron Institute
11:20‑12:00	Near-singular dynamics of kinetic ballooning instabilities in plasmas	Ge Dong PPPL
12:00‑1:00	Lunch
SESSION VI     Chair: A. Bhattacharjee		Speaker	Video Link
1:00‑1:40	On the derivation of the wave-kinetic equation in weak turbulence	Pierre Germain Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University
1:40‑2:20	Singularities and phase-space dynamics in wave physics and turbulence	Ilya Dodin PPPL
2:20‑3:00	Shock formation in compressible fluids	Vlad Vicol Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University
3:00-3:40	Discussion and Adjournment