SFB 963:  Astrophysical Flow Instabilities and Turbulence

• Subject Area: Physics
• Term: from 2012 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 187005812

In astrophysics and cosmology, fluid flow occurs on a large range of scales and under very different conditions, from the dense interior of stars and planets to the highly rarefied intergalactic medium. These flows share the fact that they are generally turbulent, i.e. highly disordered both in space and time. Most astrophysical flows occur under conditions where the driving forces generate large fluctuations in velocity and pressure with important consequences for the transport of energy and mass. Turbulence is one of the key processes for the structure and evolution of a large variety of geo- and astrophysical systems. Astrophysical turbulence and instabilities occur in connection with rotation, convection and magnetic fields. The universality of astrophysical turbulence interlinks the physics of the interior of planets or stars with protoplanetary or galactic disks, as well as the intergalactic gas outside of galaxies. For example, angular momentum transport by turbulence is a central question that must be answered to understand how galaxies or stars form, how protoplanetary disks evolve, how metals are mixed in the interstellar and intergalactic medium, or how differential rotation is established in stars and planets. Magnetic field amplification through turbulent dynamo processes is ubiquitous in planets, stars and galaxies. The onset of instabilities due to dust particles or newly formed planets in protoplanetary disks controls the properties of the evolving structures. We can observe a variety of interactions between stars, planets and galaxies with their environment leading to the exchange of energy and (angular-)momentum. This compilation highlights the enormous potential and perspective of a collaborative effort to investigate the common underlying physical processes. Our combination of projects will enable us to understand aspects of turbulent magnetic field amplification, turbulence and instabilities of rotating fluids, and in the interaction of turbulence and instabilities with radiation, gravitation or dust particles and hence answer fundamental questions about the formation and evolution of galaxies, stars and planets.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres

Completed projects

• A01 - Solar turbulent convection probed by helioseismology (Project Heads Gizon, Laurent ;  Hohage, Thorsten )
• A02 - From solar to heliospheric flows and instabilities (Project Heads Bothmer, Volker ;  Büchner, Jörg )
• A03 - Alfvénic impact on heliospheric plasma turbulence (Project Heads Motschmann, Ph.D., Uwe ;  Narita, Yasuhito )
• A04 - Plasma turbulence with an outer disturber: planet-induced stellar activity (Project Heads Motschmann, Ph.D., Uwe ;  Reiners, Ansgar )
• A05 - Inertial modes and tidal friction in stars and planets (Project Heads Dreizler, Stefan ;  Lube, Gert ;  Tilgner, Andreas )
• A06 - Transition in rotating turbulent Rayleigh-Bènard convection (Project Heads Bodenschatz, Eberhard ;  Tilgner, Andreas ;  Wagner, Claus )
• A07 - Instabilities and turbulence of dust sub]disks in protoplanetary nebulae (Project Heads Blum, Jürgen ;  Bodenschatz, Eberhard ;  Wagner, Claus ;  Xu, Haitao )
• A08 - Transition to turbulence in accretion disks (Project Heads Hof, Björn ;  Tilgner, Andreas )
• A11 - High-precision numerical simulation of nonradial nonlinear stellar pulsations (Project Heads Glatzel, Wolfgang ;  Lube, Gert )
• A12 - MHD-turbulence and the origin of supermassive black holes (Project Heads Niemeyer, Jens ;  Schleicher, Dominik R.G. )
• A13 - Hydrodynamical interaction of young galaxies with the intergalactic medium (Project Heads Kollatschny, Wolfram ;  Niemeyer, Jens )
• A15 - Simulations of reconnection and dynamo action in turbulent plasma flows (Project Heads Büchner, Jörg ;  Schmidt, Wolfram )
• A16 - Origin and structure of magnetic fields in cool stars (Project Heads Reiners, Ansgar ;  Schüssler, Manfred )
• A16 - Origin and structure of magnetic fields in cool stars (Project Heads Jeffers, Sandra ;  Reiners, Ansgar ;  Schüssler, Manfred )
• A17 - Magnetic fields and dynamos: from planets to low-mass stars (Project Heads Christensen, Ulrich ;  Reiners, Ansgar )
• A18 - Asteroseismology and dynamos in solar-like stars (Project Heads Gizon, Laurent ;  Schunker, Hannah )
• INF - ADIR: the AstroFIT Data InfRastructure (Project Heads Niemeyer, Jens ;  Schwardmann, Ulrich )
• Z - Central tasks (Project Head Dreizler, Stefan )

• Applicant Institution: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Participating Institution: Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung mbH Göttingen; Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR); Institut für Aeordynamik und Strömungstechnik (IAS); Max-Planck-Institut für Dynamik und Selbstorganisation (MPIDS); Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung (MPS)
• Participating University: Technische Universität Braunschweig
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Stefan Dreizler