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I am a research scientist in the Theory Department of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. I got my PhD in 2017 from Princeton University, Program in Plasma Physics. My PhD thesis is about the physics of runaway electrons in tokamaks, advised by Dr. Dylan Brennan and Prof. Amitava Bhattacharjee. I got my Bachelor's degree in 2011 from Peking University in China.

My research primarily revolves around energetic particle (EP) and runaway electron (RE) physics in tokamaks and stellarators. I engage in theoretical analysis and numerical simulations to explore these phenomena. As one of the developers of the M3D-C1 extended magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) codes, I have contributed to the development of EP and RE simulation modules. Additionally, I am involved in algorithm development and code optimization for GPUs.

Apart from my work in EP and RE physics, I have also delved into other areas of plasma physics, including high-energy density plasma (HEDP), plasma wave theory, and fundamental gyrokinetic theory.

CV (PDF)»

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Publications

Google Scholar

• “Hybrid simulation of energetic particles interacting with magnetohydrodynamics using a slow manifold algorithm and GPU acceleration", C. Liu, S.C. Jardin, H. Qin, J. Xiao, N.M. Ferraro, and J. Breslau, Comput. Phys. Commun. 275, 108313 (2022).
• “Self-consistent simulation of resistive kink instabilities with runaway electrons”, C. Liu, C. Zhao, S.C. Jardin, N. Ferraro, C. Paz-Soldan, Y. Liu, and B.C. Lyons, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 63, 125031 (2021).
• “Structure and overstability of resistive modes with runaway electrons”, C. Liu, C. Zhao, S.C. Jardin, A. Bhattacharjee, D.P. Brennan, and N.M. Ferraro, Phys. Plasmas 27, 092507 (2020).
• “Conservative magnetic moment of runaway electrons and collisionless pitch-angle scattering”, C. Liu, H. Qin, E. Hirvijoki, Y. Wang, and J. Liu, Nucl. Fusion 58, 106018 (2018).
• “Role of kinetic instability in runaway electron avalanche and elevated critical electric fields”, C. Liu, E. Hirvijoki, G.-Y. Fu, D.P. Brennan, A. Bhattacharjee, and C. Paz-Soldan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 265001 (2018).
• “Momentum transport and nonlocality in heat-flux-driven magnetic reconnection in high-energy-density plasmas”, C. Liu, W. Fox, A. Bhattacharjee, A.G.R. Thomas, and A.S. Joglekar, Phys. Rev. E 96, 043203 (2017).
• “Adjoint Fokker-Planck equation and runaway electron dynamics”, Chang Liu, Dylan P. Brennan, Allen H. Boozer, and Amitava Bhattacharjee, Phys. Plasmas 23, 010702 (2016).
• “Nonlinear frequency shift of electrostatic waves in general collisionless plasma: unifying theory of fluid and kinetic nonlinearities”, Chang Liu and Ilya Dodin, Phys. Plasmas 22, 082117(2015).