Petros Tzeferacos

Petros Tzeferacos received his degree in Physics from the Physics Department of the University of Athens, Greece (2006), and earned his PhD in Physics and Astrophysics from the Physics Department of the University of Turin, Italy (2010). From 2010-2012 he was postdoc at the same Department, working on accretion disks, numerical methods, and the development of the astrophysics code PLUTO. In 2012 he joined as a postdoc the Flash Center for Computational Science at the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics of the University of Chicago. There he became Research Assistant Professor in 2013 and Research Associate Professor in 2019. Tzeferacos leads the development of FLASH since 2013; FLASH is a publicly available multi-physics high-performance computing code used by the astrophysics and laboratory plasma research communities. He became Associate Director of Center in 2013 and Director in 2018. In 2020, Tzeferacos moved the Flash Center to the University of Rochester, where he became Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Senior Scientist at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics. Tzeferacos works on plasma physics and astrophysics, combining MHD theory, numerical modeling, and laser-driven laboratory experiments, to study fundamental astrophysical plasma processes with a focus on magnetized turbulence, dynamo, and charged particle acceleration. 

Featured Publications:

1. Tzeferacos P, Rigby A, Bott AFA, Bell AR, Bingham R, Casner A, Cattaneo F, Churazov EM, Emig J, Fiuza F, Forest CB, Foster J, Graziani C, Katz J, Koenig M, Li CK, Meinecke J, Petrasso R, Park HS, Remington BA, Ross JS, Ryu D, Ryutov D, White TG, Reville B, Miniati F, Schekochihin AA, Lamb DQ, Froula DH, Gregori G. Laboratory evidence of dynamo amplification of magnetic fields in a turbulent plasma. Nat Commun. 9(1):591, 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-02953-2
2. Tzeferacos P, Rigby A, Bott A, Bell A, Bingham R, Casner A, Cattaneo F, Churazov E, Emig J, Flocke N, Fiuza F, Forest C, Foster J, Graziani C, Katz J, Koenig M, Li C, Meinecke J, Petrasso R, Park H, Remington B, Ross J, Ryu D, Ryutov D, Weide K, White T, Reville B, Miniati F, Schekochihin A, Froula D, Gregori G, Lamb D. “Numerical modeling of laser-driven experiments aiming to demonstrate magnetic field amplification via turbulent dynamo.” Physics of Plasmas; 24(4):041404, 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4978628  
3. Chen L, Bott A, Tzeferacos P, Rigby A, Bell A, Bingham R, Graziani C, Katz J, Koenig M, Li C, Petrasso R, Park H, Ross J, Ryu D, White T, Reville B, Matthews J, Meinecke J, Miniati F, Zweibel E, Sarkar S, Schekochihin A, Lamb D, Froula D, Gregori G. “Transport of High-energy Charged Particles through Spatially Intermittent Turbulent Magnetic Fields.” The Astrophysical Journal. 892(2):114, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab7a19  
4. Bott A, Tzeferacos P, Chen L, Palmer C, Rigby A, Bell A, Bingham R, Birkel A, Graziani C, Froula D, Katz J, Koenig M, Kunz M, Li C, Meinecke J, Miniati F, Petrasso R, Park H, Remington B, Reville B, Ross J, Ryu D, Ryutov D, Seguin F, White T, Schekochihin A, Lamb D, Gregori G. Time-resolved fast turbulent dynamo in a laser plasma. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 118(11):e2015729118, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2015729118  
5. Tzeferacos P, Fatenejad M, Flocke N, Graziani C, Gregori G, Lamb D, Lee D, Meinecke J, Scopatz A, Weide K. FLASH MHD simulations of experiments that study shock-generated magnetic fields. High Energy Density Physics.17:24, 2015. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hedp.2014.11.003