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VIDEO: A 3D radiation magneto-hydrodynamic FLASH simulation of the experimental platform. The video shows a rendering of the magnetic field as a function of time, with grids and cylindrical shields shown. view more
Credit: University of Rochester/Laboratory for Laser Energetics
The universe is filled with magnetic fields. Understanding how magnetic fields are generated and amplified in plasmas is essential to studying how large structures in the universe were formed and how energy is divided throughout the cosmos.
An international collaboration, co-led by researchers at the University of Rochester, the University of Oxford, and the University of Chicago, conducted experiments that captured for the first time in a laboratory setting the time history of the growth of magnetic fields by the turbulent dynamo, a physical mechanism thought to be responsible for generating and sustaining astrophysical magnetic fields. The experiments accessed conditions relevant