Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is a research area concerned with the macroscopic behavior of electrically conducting fluids—such as plasmas, liquid metals, and salty water—under the influence of magnetic and electric fields. It couples the Navier–Stokes equations of fluid dynamics with Maxwell’s equations of electromagnetism, often under simplifying assumptions like quasi-neutrality and low-frequency fields. MHD investigates phenomena such as magnetic reconnection, plasma instabilities, dynamo action, and turbulence, and underpins theoretical and computational studies in astrophysics, space and solar physics, fusion research, and engineering applications involving flow control and electromagnetic propulsion in conducting fluids.
One particularly well-known fact about the moon is that it doesn't have much of a magnetosphere to speak of. There's no blanket to protect it from the solar wind ravaging its surface, blowing away its atmosphere and charging ...
Planetary Sciences
Mar 16, 2026
0
61
Earth's magnetic field is generated by the churn of its liquid nickel-iron outer core, but it is not a constant feature. Every so often, the magnetic north and south poles swap places in what are called geomagnetic reversals, ...
Planetary Sciences
Feb 5, 2026
0
178
Scientists pursuing magnetically-confined nuclear fusion as a clean energy source grapple with the "core-edge challenge," the need to integrate the core of the reactor, where plasma must be 10 times hotter than the sun, with ...
Plasma Physics
Aug 25, 2025
0
146
A research team from the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has shed new light on the magnetic reconnection process driven by rapidly expanding plasma, using magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) numerical simulations. ...
Plasma Physics
Aug 12, 2025
0
71
In magnetic reconnection, adjacent magnetic field lines break and snap together to form new lines. This process converts magnetic energy to both thermal energy, or heat, and kinetic energy, or the acceleration of particles, ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 14, 2025
0
53
A graduate research assistant at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of The University of Alabama system, has published a paper in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics that builds on an earlier study to ...
Plasma Physics
Feb 4, 2025
0
145
A study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, introduces a newly defined "filament channel" function. This new function provides a novel theoretical foundation for predicting solar eruptions by determining whether ...
Astronomy
Jan 7, 2025
0
25
Future fusion power plants will require good plasma confinement to sustain reactions and generate energy. One way to contain plasma for fusion reactions is to use a tokamak, a device that applies magnetic fields to "bottle" ...
Plasma Physics
Oct 15, 2024
0
59
Researchers at KU Leuven, the University of Colorado, Boulder, the Flatiron Institute, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison recently set out to answer a long-standing research question, specifically whether charged particles ...
In the nine decades since humans first produced fusion reactions, only a few fusion technologies have demonstrated the ability to make a thermal fusion plasma with electron temperatures hotter than 10 million degrees Celsius, ...
Plasma Physics
Apr 23, 2024
4
535
