Speakers
Description
Zeltron is a relativistic particle-in-cell code that has played a central role in advancing our understanding of particle acceleration and radiation in a wide range of plasma environments, from solar to extreme astrophysical plasmas. Through large-scale kinetic simulations of relativistic magnetic reconnection, Zeltron has provided key insights into the origin of nonthermal particle distributions and high-energy emission observed in systems such as pulsar wind nebulae and gamma-ray flares. In this talk, we present an overview of Zeltron’s assumptions and capabilities, together with results from two representative use cases: expanding box and black hole accretion simulations. In the expanding box model, a plasma volume is followed as it undergoes expansion perpendicular to a guide magnetic field, a framework particularly well suited to the solar wind, where expansion strongly influences global dynamics as the plasma propagates through interplanetary space. For the accretion case, we discuss how concepts and assumptions from commonly used fluid models can be adapted and interpreted within a fully kinetic particle-in-cell framework.