Name: Thermodynamics of Plasmas workshop
Start: 2026-10-05T09:00:00+02:00
End: 2026-10-07T20:30:00+02:00
Location: EPFL

Thermodynamics of Plasmas workshop

from Monday, 5 October 2026 (09:00) to Wednesday, 7 October 2026 (20:30)

Monday, 5 October 2026

09:00 Arrival, croissants, and coffee
Arrival, croissants, and coffee
09:00 - 09:50
Room: Bernoulli center

09:50 Block Introduction

09:50 - 10:00
Room: Bernoulli center
10:00 Energy bounds: Energy bounds
Energy bounds
10:00 - 12:30
Room: Bernoulli center
Contributions

10:00 Upper bounds on gyrokinetic instabilities - Per Helander

10:40 Unified theory of classical and quantum ergotropy - Michele Campisi (Istituto Nanoscienze CNR, Pisa, Italy)

11:50 Ground states: constraints from the field equations and unresolved issues - Ralf Johannes Josephus Mackenbach (EPFL-SPC)
12:30 Lunch break
Lunch break
12:30 - 14:00
Room: Bernoulli center
14:00 Instabilities and confinement: Instabilities and confinement
Instabilities and confinement
14:00 - 17:10
Room: Bernoulli center
Contributions

14:00 Available Energy and Ground States of Convective Hydrodynamic and Hydromagnetic Instabilities - Kaixuan Fan (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

14:40 Thermodynamic bounds on linear gyrokinetic microinstabilities - Paul Costello (Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics)

15:50 Constrained Nonequilibrium Dynamics and the Formation of Transport Barriers in Magnetized Plasmas - DR Hatch

16:30 Impact of Magnetic Configuration on Energy Confinement and Available Energy in Fusion Device - Daishi Toriyama (GSES, Kyoto Univ.)
17:10 Apéro (welcome drinks) and dinner
Apéro (welcome drinks) and dinner
17:10 - 19:30
Room: Bernoulli center
Tuesday, 6 October 2026

09:00 Croissants and coffee
Croissants and coffee
09:00 - 10:00
Room: Bernoulli center
10:00 Universal equilibria: Universal equilibria
Universal equilibria
10:00 - 12:30
Room: Bernoulli center
Contributions

10:00 Relaxation to universal non-Maxwellian equilibria - Robert Ewart (Stanford University)

10:40 Non-thermal particle acceleration in multi-species kinetic plasmas: universal power-law distribution functions and temperature inversion in the solar corona - Uddipan Banik (Institute for Advanced Study)

11:50 Dynamical Accessibility of Phase-Space Holes and Gravity Cusps in One-Dimensional Vlasov-Poisson Dynamics - W Sengupta
12:30 Lunch break
Lunch break
12:30 - 14:00
Room: Bernoulli center
14:00 Violent relaxation: Violent relaxation
Violent relaxation
14:00 - 16:30
Room: Bernoulli center
Contributions

14:00 "Collisionless relaxation" of a stratified fluid plasma - David Hosking (University of Cambridge)

14:40 Violent relaxation redux - Michael Nastac (University of Oxford)

15:50 Relaxation of Cold Dark Matter Systems to Lynden-Bell Equilibria - Barry Ginat (University of Oxford)
16:30 Dinner and social event
Dinner and social event
16:30 - 22:00
Wednesday, 7 October 2026

09:00 Croissants and coffee
Croissants and coffee
09:00 - 10:00
Room: Bernoulli center
10:00 Self-gravitating systems: Self-gravitating systems
Self-gravitating systems
10:00 - 12:30
Room: Bernoulli center
Contributions

10:00 A Geometric Theory of Magnetic Reconnection: Current Singularities and Magnetic Caustics - Amitava Bhattacharjee (Princeton University)

10:40 Gravitational turbulence in stellar dynamics - Sofia Flores

11:50 Phase transition in a self-gravitating system: spontaneous orbital alignment of stars around a supermassive black hole - Jean-Baptiste FOUVRY (Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris)
12:30 Lunch
Lunch
12:30 - 14:00
Room: Bernoulli center

14:00 Town hall discussion: Town hall discussion
Town hall discussion
14:00 - 16:00
Room: Bernoulli center

19:00 Dinner (provisional)
Dinner (provisional)
19:00 - 20:30