Unsteady wandering magnetic field lines, turbulence and laboratory flux ropes

Physics – Plasma Physics

Scientific paper

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[2723] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetic Reconnection, [7831] Space Plasma Physics / Laboratory Studies And Experimental Techniques, [7835] Space Plasma Physics / Magnetic Reconnection, [7836] Space Plasma Physics / Mhd Waves And Instabilities

Scientific paper

We describe earth bound laboratory experiment investigations of patchy, unsteady, bursty, patchy magnetic field structures that are unifying features of magnetic reconnection and turbulence in helio, space and astro physics. Macroscopic field lines occupy cross sectional areas, fill up three dimensional (3D) volumes as flux tubes. They contain mass with Newtonian dynamics that follow magneto-hydro-dynamic (MHD) equations of motion. Flux rope geometry can be ubiquitous in laminar reconnection sheet geometries that are themselves unstable to formation of secondary "islands" that in 3D are really flux ropes. Flux ropes are ubiquitous structures on the sun and the rest of the heliosphere. Understanding the dynamics of flux ropes and their mutual interactions offers the key to many important astrophysical phenomena, including magnetic reconnection and turbulence. We describe laboratory investigations on RSX, where 3D interaction of flux ropes can be studied in great detail. We use experimental probes inside the the flux ropes to measure the magnetic and electric fields, current density, density, temperatures, pressure, and electrostatic and vector plasma potentials. Macroscopic magnetic field lines, unsteady wandering characteristics, and dynamic objects with structure down to the dissipation scale length can be traced from data sets in a 3D volume. Computational approaches are finally able to tackle simple 3D systems and we sketch some intriguing simulation results that are consistent with 3D extensions of typical 2D cartoons for magnetic reconnection and turbulence.

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