Astrophysics in Strong Electromagnetic Fields and Laboratory Astrophysics

Understand

Recent observations of gravitational waves from binary mergers of black holes or neutron stars and the rapid development of ultra-intense lasers lead strong field physics to a frontier of new physics in the 21st century.

• Strong gravity phenomena are most precisely described by general relativity, and lasers that are described by another most precisely tested quantum electrodynamics (QED) can be focused into a tiny area in a short period through the chirped pulse amplification and generate extremely high intensity electromagnetic (EM) fields beyond the conventional methods.
• It is physically interesting to study QED phenomena in curved spacetimes, in which both strong gravitational and electromagnetic fields play important roles.
• There are many sources for strong gravitational and electromagnetic fields in the sky or universe, such highly magnetized neutron stars, magnetized black holes, and the early universe.