Pauli

Wolfgang Pauli Institute, Vienna

17th Plasma Kinetics Working Meeting
  27 July - 7 August 2026

Organised by Alex Schekochihin (Oxford)
"Programme Committee": Plamen Ivanov (UKAEA), Toby Adkins, Felix Parra (PPPL), Robbie Ewart, Matt Kunz (Princeton), David Hosking (Cambridge)




A to B #1
[art by Kate Hammett]
AGENDA

Week I:
  • (Real and) imaginary fusion machines: EM turbulence, zonal flows
  • Trending transport topics
  • High-beta universe (micro-marco cross-talk)
  • Solar wind turbulence
Week II:
  • (Smoke and) mirrors
  • Phase-space frolics
  • Trending transport topics cont'd
  • AI as a research assistant
A to B #1




Invited Participants

Name Affiliation Wk I
Wk II
h
Seminar Title
Background Reading
Download
Ian Abel
GridFire Ltd
30-
-7
H
General overview of centrifugal mirrors and how they turn into fusion reactors rather than just university experiments

pdf
Georgia Acton
IPP Greifswald
26-
-7
o
A weakly nonlinear theory of zonal-flow forcing in gyrokinetic turbulence
arXiv:2606.28154
pdf
Toby Adkins
PPPL/Edinburgh
26-
-7
D
Generalised RMHD: putting solar-wind turbulence on an industrial basis

pdf
Alessandro Balestri
EPFL
27-31

F
On the interplay between plasma triangularity, aspect ratio, and micro-tearing turbulence in tokamaks
PPCF 67, 105025 (2025)
PoP 32, 052302 (2025)
PRL 106, 155003 (2011)
pdf
Justin Ball
EPFL
27-31

F
Alternative approaches to fusion
EUROfusion report
not yet released
ask speaker
Aikya Banerjee
Oxford
26-1

F
What is the resistivity of a box of plasma?
preprint on request
ask speaker
Nicolas Besse
OCA Nice
31-
-15
F
The reduced MHD limit of the compressible MHD for a strongly magnetised and anisotropic plasma: a rigorous justification
J. Math. Pures App. 210, 103877 (2026)
pdf
Archie Bott
Oxford
26-31

D
Anomalous transport in in weakly collisional, high-beta plasmas: where do we stand?
JPP 90. 975900207 (2024)
JPP 91, E20 (2025)
JPP 91, E45 (2025)
JPP 91, E136 (2025)
PRE 133, 065212 (2026)
arXiv:2607.1171
pdf
Yann Brenier
Paris-Saclay

4-14
o



Ben Chandran
New Hampshire
28-1

H
Quadratic invariants and the helicity barrier
JPP 87, 535870301 (2021)
JPP 85, 905850303 (2018)
arXiv:2607.27981
pdf
Steve Cowley Princeton/PPPL

1-7
D



Bruno Despres
Sorbonne

2-9
D
On the future of hybrid models for transport codes (hybrid model=Neural Nets+classical solver)

pdf
Riju Dutta
Oxford
25-
-3
o
Double-diffusive MHD and transport barriers
preprint on request
ask speaker
Robbie Ewart
Stanford
25-
-7
o
1) Anomalous cosmic-ray transport in intermittent CGL-MHD turbulence Nature Astron. 9, 438 (2025)
JPP 90, 535900601 (2024)
MNRAS 545, staf2108 (2026)
pdf
2) A tourist's guide to superconducting MHD
PRD 16, 275 (1977)
MNRAS 365, 339 (2006)
MNRAS 473, 2771 (2018)
ask
speaker
Cary Forest
UW Madison/Realta

2-8
H
Intro to current mirror research at Wisconsin and world-wide; role of kinetic physics

pdf
Thomas Foster
Princeton
26-
-7
D
1) Neoclassical transport near rational surfaces in stellarators

ask
speaker
2) Humans as research assistants: Give your agent better humans

pdf
Sam Frank
Realta Fusion Inc

2-11
D
Adventures in extended MHD and other entertainments

ask
speaker
Zach Hemler
Princeton
31-
-8
F



David Hosking
Cambridge/Edinburgh
26-
-7
F
The living HBI
ApJ 673, 758 (2008)
ApJ 720, L97 (2010)
MNRAS 417, 602 (2011)
ApJ 773, 171 (2013)
ask
speaker
Plamen Ivanov
UKAEA
26-
-8
F
GK transport of fast electrons (because apparently EM turbulence was not bad enough already)
PRL 88, 205001 (2002)
PoP 12, 082511 (2005)
PRL 101, 095001 (2008)
NF 55, 012002 (2015)
NF 64, 106027 (2024)
ask
speaker
Archis Joglekar
Ergodic LLC

2-8
H
AI as research assistant: Give your AI agent a better toolbox (a case study in kinetic simulation)
https://github.com/ergodicio/ergodic-claude
pdf
Anjor Kanekar
Platypus Tech Ltd

2-7
H
Return to phase space with an AI assistant
arXiv:2511.21891
https://github.com/anjor/gandalf
https://github.com/anjor/gandalf-paper
https://github.com/anjor/krmhd-research
pdf
Philipp Kempski
IST Lisbon
26-1

D
Scatter, trap, repeat: anomalous cosmic-ray transport in large-amplitude MHD turbulence
MNRAS 525, 4985 (2023)
ApJL 994, L49 (2025)
ask
speaker
Patrick Kim
Princeton
26-1

D
The gyrokinetic plasma-sheath transition
PPCF 60, 125002 (2018)
arXiv:2508.09067
pdf
Matt Kunz
Princeton
25-
-5
D
1) Collisionless resistivity of firehose-unstable plasma
preprint on request
ask
speaker
2) Solar-wind heating update arXiv:2606.06340
ApJ 979, 121 (2025)
Nat. Astron. 6, 715 (2022)
arXiv:2605.25117

Ralf Mackenbach EPFL

2-8
o
Ground states: constraints from the field equations and unresolved issues
JPP 92, E77 (2026)
pdf
Rishin Madan
Princeton
26-1
3-7
F
1) Kinetic-Alfven-wave turbulence: alignment and intermittency?
ApJ 758, L44 (2012)



2) Tales of phase-space cascades, anomalous diffusion, and holes in ion-acoustic turbulence arXiv:2503.17278 pdf
Inma Foulquie Mauser
U of Vienna & KU Leuven
26-
-15
o



Michael Nastac
Oxford

2-7
F
Decaying phase-space turbulence and Lagrangian dynamics
PRE 109, 065210 (2024)
arXiv:2503.17278
PNAS 122, e2417813122 (2025)
ask
speaker
Richard Nies
Oxford
26-31

F
Nonlinear theory of zonal flows: saturation, propagation, and first steps in electromagnetification
PRL 80, 724 (1998)
PRL 93, 065001 (2004)
PRR 8, 013295 (2026)
PPCF 68, 045028 (2026)
ask speaker
Felix Parra
Princeton/PPPL
26-1

H



Bhavin Patel
GridFire Ltd

2-8
D
Equilibria and field reversal limits in centrifugal mirror machines

pdf
Chris Reynolds
Maryland
19-1

H



Alex Schekochihin Oxford
25-
-7
H



Yujia Zhang
UKAEA
26-31

D
Transition to high-flux states in microtearing turbulence due to magnetic island overlap
arXiv:2606.04616
arXiv:2607.11789
arXiv:2607.12682
pdf

Week I
 
Dinner on Sunday 26 July: 19:30 at Stomach; after dinner: Luxor

Monday 27 July
Tuesday 28 July
Wednesday 29 July
Thursday 30 July
Friday 31 July
9:30 Coffee
9:45 Welcome/self-intros
9:30 Coffee 9:30 Coffee 9:30 Coffee 9:30 Coffee
HIGH-BETA TRANSPORT
Bott
FUSION FUTURES
Ball
TRANSPORT BARRIERS
Dutta
CR TRANSPORT
Kempski
SOLAR WIND
Chandran
GK SHEATH
Kim
ZONAL FLOWS
Acton
HIGH-BETA DYNAMICS
Hosking
SOLAR WIND/TRANSPORT
Kunz-2
FUSION FUTURES
Discussion---Nies & Adkins
13:00 Lunch/work/play
Some options: Scala, ...
13:00 Lunch/work/play
Some options: Scala, ...
13:00 Lunch/work/play
Some options: Scala, ...
13:00 Lunch/work/play
Some options: Scala, ...
13:00 Lunch/work/play
Some options: Scala, ...
16:00 Coffee 16:00 Coffee 16:00 Coffee 16:00 Coffee 16:00 Coffee
ZONAL FLOWS
Nies
CR TRANSPORT
Ewart-1
MICROTEARING
Balestri
HIGH-BETA RESISTIVITY
Banerjee
MICROTEARING
Zhang
HIGH-BETA RESISTIVITY
Kunz-1
NEOCLASSICS
Foster-1
KAW TURBULENCE
Madan-1

19:30 Dinner at Sopherl am Naschmarkt
19:30 Dinner at Takan's
19:30 Dinner at Fischerie
After dinner: DashXDrop
19:30 Dinner at Nanos am Ring
After dinner: Krypt
19:30 Dinner at 8o8
After dinner: Krypt

Dinner on Saturday 1 August: 19:15 at Marcodi; after dinner: Krypt

Week II

Dinner on Sunday 2 August: 19:30 at Stomach; after dinner: Luxor

Monday 3 August
Tuesday 4 August
Wednesday 5 August
Thursday 6 August
Friday 7 August
9:30 Coffee
9:45 Welcome/self-intros
9:30 Coffee 9:30 Coffee 9:30 Coffee 9:30 Coffee
MIRRORS
Forest
AI/PHASE SPACE
Joglekar
MIRRORS
Abel
PHASE SPACE
Madan-2
MIRRORS
Frank
AI/PHASE SPACE
Kanekar
MIRRORS
Patel
PHASE SPACE
Nastac
MIRRORS
Discussion---Abel & Forest
AI
Discussion cont'd---Joglekar & Foster
13:00 Lunch/work/play
Some options: Scala, ...
13:00 Lunch/work/play
Some options: Scala, ...
13:00 Lunch/work/play
Some options: Scala, ...
13:00 Lunch/work/play
Some options: Scala, ...
13:00 Lunch/work/play
Some options: Scala, ...
16:00 Coffee 16:00 Coffee 16:00 Coffee 16:00 Coffee
PHASE SPACE
Mackenbach
AI
Foster-2
GK TRANSPORT
Ivanov
NEUTRON STAR MHD
Ewart-2
RMHD TRANSPORT
Adkins
MATHEMATICS OF RMHD
Besse
AI/TRANSPORT
Despres
AI
Discussion---Kanekar, Joglekar & Foster

19:30 Dinner at Skopik und Lohn
19:30 Pauli Dinner at Casa Caribena
After dinner: DashXDrop
19:30 Dinner at Fischerie
After dinner: DashXDrop
19:30 Dinner at Wiener Wirtschaft
After dinner: Krypt


JPP-CUP Best Student Talk Prize (panel: G. Acton, R. Ewart, P. Ivanov): Riju Dutta

Logistics

The workshop will be held at
Wolfgang Pauli Institute, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Vienna,
Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1, 1090 Vienna, Austria
All seminars are in Seminar Room 08.135 (8th floor)

Hotels: Pension Ani-Falstaff (no-nonsense but very affordable option),
Deutschmeister (perfectly fine)
,
Harmonie (somewhat self-indulgent, has AC!).

City-airport train
Vienna information

Previous WPI workshops in this series:
2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, (2008), (2007), (2007)

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