Professor Sasha Philippov

Professor Sasha Philippov (IREAP, Physics) has received the 2024 APS Thomas H. Stix Award for Outstanding Early Career Contributions to Plasma Physics Research, "For seminar contributions to the theory and simulation of collisionless astrophysical plasmas, especially compact objects."

The purpose of this award is to recognize an individual researcher who has made outstanding contributions (theoretical, experimental, computational, or technical) in plasma physics early in their career. Areas of plasma physics, fusion plasmas, astrophysical or space plasmas, low-temperature plasmas, or high-energy-density plasmas.

Professor Philippov graduated with a M.S. in applied physics and mathematics with highest honors from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in 2012 and received his Ph.D. in astrophysical sciences from Princeton University in 2017. He joined the Department of Physics at the University of Maryland in 2022 and the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics in 2024.

He is the recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (2024).

Recent focus of Philippov's research group has been on: (i) developing models of coherent radio emission produced during pair production lightnings and relativistic magnetic reconnection occurring in magnetospheres of neutron stars, in application to rotation-powered pulsars and Fast Radio Bursts; (ii) understanding mechanisms of producing electromagnetic flares in accretion flows around supermassive black holes and magnetospheres of merging neutron stars and magnetars; (iii) exploring the role of kinetic plasma effects in shaping the dynamics and observational appearance of accreting plasmas around black holes in M87 and Milky Way; (iv) investigating electron and proton acceleration in radiative plasma turbulence occurring in the magnetized coronae of black holes. These ongoing efforts contribute to interpreting the observed signatures of black holes and neutron stars using first-principles physics.

Published September 17, 2024