The UAH Spinning Terrella Experiment: A Laboratory Analog for the Earth's Magnetosphere

Mathematics – Logic

Scientific paper

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2724 Magnetopause, Cusp, And Boundary Layers, 2740 Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics, 2794 Instruments And Techniques

Scientific paper

The UAH Spinning Terrella Experiment has been modified to include the effect of a second magnet. This is a simple laboratory demonstration of the well-known double-dipole approximation to the Earth's magnetosphere. In addition, the magnet has been biassed ~-400V which generates a DC glow discharge and traps it in a ring current around the magnet. This ring current is easily imaged with a digital camera and illustrates several significant topological properties of a dipole field. In particular, when the two dipoles are aligned, and therefore repel, they emulate a northward IMF Bz magnetosphere. As described by Sheldon et al.(1998), such a geometry traps plasma in the high latitude cusps as can be clearly seen in the movies. Likewise, when the two magnets are anti-aligned, they emulate a southward IMF Bz magnetosphere with direct feeding of plasma through the x-line. We present evidence for trapping and heating of the plasma, comparing the dipole-trapped ring current to the cusp-trapped population. We also present a peculiar asymmetric ring current produced in by the plasma at low plasma densities. We discuss the similarities and dissimilarities of the laboratory analog to the collisionless Earth plasma, and implications for the interpretation of IMAGE data. 1Sheldon, R. et al., Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, 1825, 1998.

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