---
# System prepended metadata

title: PlasmaPy Newsletter May 2021
tags: [newsletter]

---

---
tags: newsletter
---

# PlasmaPy Newsletter May 2021

## Newsletter Catergories

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### Opening Letter



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### News and Announcements

* Hack Week being planned for late-June
  * keep it on your calendar
  * advertise hack.plasmapy.org (only include if PRs get merged)
* Release of v0.6.0
* ...

#### PlasmaPy version 0.6.0 has been released!

Version 0.6.0 was released on Pi Day!  A few key highlights of the update include:

* Introduction of the [`plasmapy.diagnostic.proton_radiography`](https://docs.plasmapy.org/en/v0.6.x/ad/diagnostics/proton_radiography.html) module for simulating charged particle radiographs.
* Addition of the [`two_fluid_dispersion_solution()`](https://docs.plasmapy.org/en/v0.6.x/api/plasmapy.dispersion.two_fluid_dispersion.two_fluid_dispersion_solution.html#plasmapy.dispersion.two_fluid_dispersion.two_fluid_dispersion_solution) for generating the analytical two fluid dispersion solution developed by [P. M. Bellan (2012)](https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2012JA017856).
* Expansion of [Jupyter notebook examples](https://docs.plasmapy.org/en/v0.6.x/examples.html).

Check out the full change log [here](https://docs.plasmapy.org/en/v0.6.x/whatsnew/0.6.0.html). 

### Hack Week (in late-June)

**I [Erik] really want to includes this to increase exposure for the Hack Week but Nick and I need to get the website updated first.**

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### Code Development Highlights

* PlasmaPy Version 0.6.0 release
  * proton diagnostic (link to notebooks...maybe add an image)
  * **I [Erik] say to just include this in the main "News & Announcments" section.**
* Charged Particle Radiography
* Feature Highlight
  * unit validations & wrangling in formulary functionality
  * `to_hz` for formulary items
  * formulary aliases
  * `ParticleTracker`
  * ...

#### Charged Particle Radiography



#### Feature Highlight: Unit Wrangling of the Formulary

The `plasmapy` package utilizes Astropy's units throughout its formulary to reduce confusion on what units are associated with calculated values.  The internal functionality of `plasmapy` uses SI units, but our functionality is decorated with `@validate_quantites` to wrangle units for you.  This means you can work in unit system you like and `plasmapy` will take care of the rest.

```python
>>> import astropy.units as u
>>> from plasmapy.forumulary import gyrofrequency, thermal_speed
>>> 
>>> # create non-SI and SI variables
>>> particle = "He+"
>>> T = 5 * u.eV
>>> T_si = T.to(u.K, equivalencies=u.temperature_energy())
>>> B = 500 * u.Gauss
>>> B_si = B.si
>>> 
>>> # calculate thermal speed
>>> thermal_speed(T, particle)
<Quantity 15527.05915014 m / s>
>>> thermal_speed(T_si, particle)
<Quantity 15527.05915014 m / s>
>>> 
>>> # calculate the gyrofrequency
>>> gyrofrequency(B, particle)
<Quantity 1205447.82926037 rad / s>
>>> gyrofrequency(B_si, particle)
<Quantity 1205447.82926037 rad / s>
```

By default frequency calculations are returned in units of $rad/s$, but are easy converted to $Hz$, including the factor of $2 \pi$, with the built-in `to_hz` keyword.

```python
>>> gyrofrequency(B, particle, to_hz=True)
<Quantity 191852.98066618 Hz>
```


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### Community Events and Engagement

* Simulation working group [Nick, & possibly David]
* Hack event [Nick]
* Office Hours

#### Save the date for Plasma Hack Week

We are pleased to announce that we will be holding the inaugural [**Plasma Hack Week**](https://hack.plasmapy.org) during the week of June 28 to July 2, 2021. Please check the website in a few weeks for the registration form. A hack week is a combination of a hackathon and a summer school. While hackathons have traditionally prioritized collaborative code development activities, hack weeks typically have both structured learning activities such as tutorials as well as unstructured time for projects and informal discussions.

#### Simulation working group

We are in the process of forming a simulation working group for PlasmaPy. The overarching goal of this working group is to determine the ways to incorporate plasma simulation into the PlasmaPy software ecosystem. If you would like to join PlasmaPy's simulation working group, please contact Nick Murphy at namurphy@cfa.harvard.edu.

  
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### Feedback and Surveys

* 2021 Survey (I [Erik] say just reiterate survey from last newsletter)

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### Acknowledgements

* New Contributors (since Jan. 2021)
  * Dhawal Modi ([@Dhawal-Modi](https://github.com/Dhawal-Modi))
  * Drozdov David ([@davemus](https://github.com/davemus))
  * Kevin Montes ([@kjmontes](https://github.com/kjmontes))
* v0.6.0 Contributors
  * Anthony Vo ([@anthony-vo](https://github.com/anthony-vo))
  * Dhawal Modi ([@Dhawal-Modi](https://github.com/Dhawal-Modi))
  * Dominik Stańczak ([@StanczakDominik](https://github.com/StanczakDominik))
  * Drozdov David ([@davemus](https://github.com/davemus))
  * Erik Everson ([@rocco8773](https://github.com/rocco8773))
  * Kevin Montes ([@kjmontes](https://github.com/kjmontes))
  * Nick Murphy ([@namurphy](https://github.com/namurphy))
  * Peter Heuer ([@pheuer](https://github.com/pheuer))
  * Ramiz Qudsi ([@qudsiramiz](https://github.com/qudsiramiz))
  * Tiger Du ([@Tiger-Du](https://github.com/Tiger-Du))

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### Links and Social Media

* PlasmaPy Main Site
* PlasmaPy Documentation (Read the Docs)
* GitHub Repository
* Zenodo Repository
* Element Chat (formerly Riot)
* Discussion Forum
* Join the Email List
* YouTube Channel
* Twitter
* Facebook
