Physics
Scientific paper
May 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agusm..sm52e07c&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2001, abstract #SM52E-07
Physics
7524 Magnetic Fields, 7831 Laboratory Studies, 7835 Magnetic Reconnection
Scientific paper
Experimental observations of plasma dynamics in the reconnection layer during spheromak merging events on the Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment (SSX) indicate Alfvénic ion flow, ion acceleration to super-Alfvénic speeds, and both X- and O-point magnetic reconnection. Retarding Grid Energy Analyzers (RGEAs) installed in SSX measure ions accelerated normal to the reconnection plane to several times the thermal speed and greater than vAlf. These measurements agree with an ejected ion distribution characterized by a drift energy of about 100~eV and thermalized to 20~eV. An RGEA oriented to observe Alfvénic flow within the reconnection plane remains saturated beyond 100~eV. Signal onset timing relationships among the RGEAs and a soft x-ray photodiode are also examined. The magnetic structure of the reconnection layer is measured with a three-dimensional magnetic probe array of 600 coils arranged in a 5x 5x 8 lattice with a 2~cm spacing. A custom set of electronics integrates and performs an 8:1 multiplexing on these signals prior to digitization at 10~MHz with commercial CAMAC modules. (Research supported by the USDOE under grants ER54422 and ER54490)
Brown Richard M.
Cothran C. D.
Schlossberg David J.
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