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Magnetar formation: from amplification to relaxation of the most extreme magnetic fields


Thesis topic details

General information

Organisation

The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) is a key player in research, development and innovation in four main areas :
• defence and security,
• nuclear energy (fission and fusion),
• technological research for industry,
• fundamental research in the physical sciences and life sciences.

Drawing on its widely acknowledged expertise, and thanks to its 16000 technicians, engineers, researchers and staff, the CEA actively participates in collaborative projects with a large number of academic and industrial partners.

The CEA is established in ten centers spread throughout France
  

Reference

SL-DRF-26-0321  

Direction

DRF

Thesis topic details

Category

Corpuscular physics and outer space

Thesis topics

Magnetar formation: from amplification to relaxation of the most extreme magnetic fields

Contract

Thèse

Job description

Magnetars are neutron stars with the strongest magnetic fields known in the Universe, observed as high-energy galactic sources. The formation of these objects is one of the most studied scenarios to explain some of the most violent explosions: superluminous supernovae, hypernovae, and gamma-ray bursts. In recent years, our team has succeeded in numerically reproducing magnetic fields of magnetar-like intensities by simulating dynamo amplification mechanisms that develop in the proto-neutron star during the first seconds after the collapse of the progenitor core. However, most observational manifestations of magnetars require the magnetic field to survive over much longer timescales (from a few weeks for super-luminous supernovae to thousands of years for Galactic magnetars). This thesis will consist of developing 3D numerical simulations of magnetic field relaxation initialized from different dynamo states previously calculated by the team, extending them to later stages after the birth of the neutron star when the dynamo is no longer active. The student will thus determine how the turbulent magnetic field generated in the first few seconds will evolve to eventually reach a stable equilibrium state, whose topology will be characterized and compared with observations.

University / doctoral school

Astronomie et Astrophysique d’Île de France (ED A&A)
Paris-Saclay

Thesis topic location

Site

Saclay

Requester

Position start date

01/10/2026

Person to be contacted by the applicant

Raynaud Raphaël raphael.raynaud@cea.fr
CEA
DRF/IRFU/DAP/LMPA
Orme des merisiers, Bat 709
CEA Saclay
91191 Gif-sur-Yvette

Tutor / Responsible thesis director

Guilet Jérôme jerome.guilet@cea.fr
CEA
DRF/IRFU/DAP/LMPA
Orme des merisiers, Bat 709
CEA Saclay
91191 Gif-sur-Yvette
06 38 62 46 30

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