Yuri Levin, Associate Professor and ARC Future Fellow, Monash University
In terrestrial conditions, magnetic fields usually play second fiddle to matter. However, in space magnetic fields can play a decisive role in dynamics of many astrophysical objects. In my talk I will describe several interesting magnetic structures that do not have counterparts in terrestrial conditions:
1. Accretion discs around supermassive black holes that are in a state of magnetic levitation
2. Magnetically driven hurricane-like deflagration fronts that are explosively consuming oceans on rapidly spinning neutron stars.
3. Avalanches of magnetically-induced thermoplastic failures in magnetar crusts that my be connected to the observed activity of magnetars.