Relativistic Laser-Matter Interaction and Relativistic Laboratory Astrophysics

The paper is devoted to the prospects of using the laser radiation interaction with plasmas in the laboratory relativistic astrophysics context. We discuss the dimensionless parameters characterizing the processes in the laser and astrophysical plasmas and emphasize a similarity between the laser and astrophysical plasmas in the ultrarelativistic energy limit. In particular, we address basic mechanisms of the charged particle acceleration, the collisionless shock wave and magnetic reconnection and vortex dynamics properties relevant to the problem of ultrarelativistic particle acceleration.Comment: 58 pages, 19 figure

Access to Multicultural Children’s Literature During COVID-19

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, students, families, and educators have faced unprecedented challenges. These challenges have disproportionately impacted racially/ethnically diverse, low-income communities because of long-standing health system, socioeconomic, and educational inequities. With closures of schools, libraries, and childcare centers, many students were disconnected from their community and did not have access to books. Parents’ and educators’ concerns centered around students falling behind academically and socially. In this article, we explain the motivation and rationale for a social justice initiative to provide students of color from low-poverty areas with access to high-quality multicultural children’s literature at home. We describe our literacy partnership with a local after-school program serving participant students and families, research underpinning the initiative, and our process for selecting high-quality multicultural literature book sets and offer suggestions about how to facilitate comprehension and motivational support for home-based reading. We also offer a list of recommended literature and discuss outcomes and implications of this project