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Liu Y, Shi P, Zhang X, Lei J, Ding W. Laboratory plasma devices for space physics investigation. THE REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS 2021; 92:071101. [PMID: 34340448 DOI: 10.1063/5.0021355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2020] [Accepted: 06/03/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
In the past decades, laboratory experiments have contributed significantly to the exploration of the fundamental physics of space plasmas. Since 1908, when Birkeland invented the first terrella device, numerous experimental apparatuses have been designed and constructed for space physics investigations, and beneficial achievements have been gained using these laboratory plasma devices. In the present work, we review the initiation, development, and current status of laboratory plasma devices for space physics investigations. The notable experimental apparatuses are categorized and discussed according to the central scientific research topics they are related to, such as space plasma waves and instabilities, magnetic field generation and reconnection, and modeling of the Earth's and planetary space environments. The characteristics of each device, including the plasma configuration, plasma generation, and control method, are highlighted and described in detail. In addition, their contributions to reveal the underlying physics of space observations are also briefly discussed. For the scope of future research, various challenges are discussed, and suggestions are provided for the construction of new and enhanced devices. The objective of this work is to allow space physicists and planetary scientists to enhance their knowledge of the experimental apparatuses and the corresponding experimental techniques, thereby facilitating the combination of spacecraft observation, numerical simulation, and laboratory experiments and consequently promoting the development of space physics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu Liu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
| | - Peiyun Shi
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506, USA
| | - Xiao Zhang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
| | - Jiuhou Lei
- CAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
| | - Weixing Ding
- CAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
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Chian ACL, Silva SSA, Rempel EL, Rubio LRB, Gošić M, Kusano K, Park SH. Lagrangian chaotic saddles and objective vortices in solar plasmas. Phys Rev E 2021; 102:060201. [PMID: 33466044 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.102.060201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2020] [Accepted: 10/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
We report observational evidence of Lagrangian chaotic saddles in plasmas, given by the intersections of finite-time unstable and stable manifolds, using an ≈22h sequence of spacecraft images of the horizontal velocity field of solar photosphere. A set of 29 persistent objective vortices with lifetimes varying from 28.5 to 298.3 min are detected by computing the Lagrangian averaged vorticity deviation. The unstable manifold of the Lagrangian chaotic saddles computed for ≈11h exhibits twisted folding motions indicative of recurring vortices in a magnetic mixed-polarity region. We show that the persistent objective vortices are formed in the gap regions of Lagrangian chaotic saddles at supergranular junctions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abraham C-L Chian
- Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE), Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan.,School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.,National Institute for Space Research (INPE), P.O. Box 515, São José dos Campos, São Paulo 12227-010, Brazil
| | - Suzana S A Silva
- Institute of Aeronautical Technology (ITA), São José dos Campos, São Paulo 12228-900, Brazil
| | - Erico L Rempel
- National Institute for Space Research (INPE), P.O. Box 515, São José dos Campos, São Paulo 12227-010, Brazil.,Institute of Aeronautical Technology (ITA), São José dos Campos, São Paulo 12228-900, Brazil
| | - Luis R Bellot Rubio
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC), Apartado de Correos 3004, E-18080 Granada, Spain
| | - Milan Gošić
- Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA.,Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, Moffett Field, California 94035, USA
| | - Kanya Kusano
- Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE), Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan
| | - Sung-Hong Park
- Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE), Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan
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Gekelman W, DeHaas T, Prior C, Yeates A. Using topology to locate the position where fully three-dimensional reconnection occurs. SN APPLIED SCIENCES 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s42452-020-03896-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
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Gekelman W, Tang SW, DeHaas T, Vincena S, Pribyl P, Sydora R. Spiky electric and magnetic field structures in flux rope experiments. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:18239-18244. [PMID: 29925603 PMCID: PMC6744923 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1721343115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Magnetic flux ropes are structures that are common in the corona of the sun and presumably all stars. They can be thought of as the building blocks of solar structures. They have been observed in Earth's magnetotail and near Mars and Venus. When multiple flux ropes are present magnetic field line reconnection, which converts magnetic energy to other forms, can occur when they collide. The structure of multiple magnetic ropes, the interactions between multiple ropes, and their topological properties such as helicity and writhing have been studied theoretically and in laboratory experiments. Here, we report on spiky potential and magnetic fields associated with the ropes. We show that the potential structures are chaotic for a range of their temporal half-widths and the probability density function (PDF) of their widths resembles the statistical distribution of crumpled paper. The spatial structure of the magnetic spikes is revealed using a correlation counting method. Computer simulation suggests that the potential structures are the nonlinear end result of an instability involving relative drift between ions and electrons.
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Affiliation(s)
- W Gekelman
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095;
| | - S W Tang
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095
| | - T DeHaas
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095
| | - S Vincena
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095
| | - P Pribyl
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095
| | - R Sydora
- Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2R3
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Prior C, Yeates AR. Quantifying reconnective activity in braided vector fields. Phys Rev E 2018; 98:013204. [PMID: 30110812 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.98.013204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
We introduce a technique for evaluating the changing connectivity of a vector field whose integral curves (field lines) form tangled tubular bundles. Applications of such fields include magnetic flux ropes, relativistic plasma jets, stirred two-dimensional fluids, superfluid vortices, and polymer networks. The technique is based on maps of the field line winding-the average entanglement of a given field line with all other field lines. Previously this had been developed for divergence-free vector fields. By extending some previous theoretical results, we show how it can be applied to any vector field that forms a tubular bundle. We demonstrate the efficacy of this technique on data from laboratory plasma experiments with two interacting magnetic flux ropes. Performed in the UCLA Large Plasma Device, the plasma's magnetic field structure is too complex to identify a single dominant current sheet as an expected site of magnetic reconnection. Previously, this complex structure had restricted the ability to analyze the evolving magnetic connectivity, but this is no such restriction to our method. We demonstrate that the plasma establishes a periodically oscillating cycle of magnetic field structure variation which, while triggered by an ideal instability, is dominated by magnetic reconnection. This reconnection leads to periodically varying coherence of a merged central flux rope, a conclusion supported by analysis of the writhing structure of the magnetic field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Prior
- Department of Mathematical Sciences, Durham University, Lower Mountjoy, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom
| | - Anthony R Yeates
- Department of Mathematical Sciences, Durham University, Lower Mountjoy, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom
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Gekelman W, De Haas T, Daughton W, Van Compernolle B, Intrator T, Vincena S. Pulsating Magnetic Reconnection Driven by Three-Dimensional Flux-Rope Interactions. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2016; 116:235101. [PMID: 27341240 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.116.235101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2015] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
The dynamics of magnetic reconnection is investigated in a laboratory experiment consisting of two magnetic flux ropes, with currents slightly above the threshold for the kink instability. The evolution features periodic bursts of magnetic reconnection. To diagnose this complex evolution, volumetric three-dimensional data were acquired for both the magnetic and electric fields, allowing key field-line mapping quantities to be directly evaluated for the first time with experimental data. The ropes interact by rotating about each other and periodically bouncing at the kink frequency. During each reconnection event, the formation of a quasiseparatrix layer (QSL) is observed in the magnetic field between the flux ropes. Furthermore, a clear correlation is demonstrated between the quasiseparatrix layer and enhanced values of the quasipotential computed by integrating the parallel electric field along magnetic field lines. These results provide clear evidence that field lines passing through the quasiseparatrix layer are undergoing reconnection and give a direct measure of the nonlinear reconnection rate. The measurements suggest that the parallel electric field within the QSL is supported predominantly by electron pressure; however, resistivity may play a role.
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Affiliation(s)
- W Gekelman
- Department of Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - T De Haas
- Department of Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - W Daughton
- Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
| | - B Van Compernolle
- Department of Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - T Intrator
- Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
| | - S Vincena
- Department of Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
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Lorenzini R, Auriemma F, Fassina A, Martines E, Terranova D, Sattin F. Internal Transport Barrier Broadening through Subdominant Mode Stabilization in Reversed Field Pinch Plasmas. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2016; 116:185002. [PMID: 27203329 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.116.185002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2015] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
The reversed field pinch (RFP) device RFX-mod features strong internal transport barriers when the plasma accesses states with a single dominant helicity. Such transport barriers enclose a hot helical region with high confinement whose amplitude may vary from a tiny one to an amplitude encompassing an appreciable fraction of the available volume. The transition from narrow to wide thermal structures has been ascribed so far to the transport reduction that occurs when the dominant mode separatrix, which is a preferred location for the onset of stochastic field lines, disappears. In this Letter we show instead that the contribution from the separatrix disappearance, by itself, is marginal and the main role is instead played by the progressive stabilization of secondary modes. The position and the width of the stochastic boundary encompassing the thermal structures have been estimated by applying the concept of a 3D quasiseparatrix layer, developed in solar physics to treat reconnection phenomena without true separatrices and novel to toroidal laboratory plasmas. Considering the favorable scaling of secondary modes with the Lundquist number, these results open promising scenarios for RFP plasmas at temperatures higher than the presently achieved ones, where lower secondary modes and, consequently, larger thermal structures are expected. Furthermore, this first application of the quasiseparatrix layer to a toroidal plasma indicates that such a concept is ubiquitous in magnetic reconnection, independent of the system geometry under investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Lorenzini
- Consorzio RFX, Corso Stati Uniti 4, I-35127 Padova, Italy
| | - F Auriemma
- Consorzio RFX, Corso Stati Uniti 4, I-35127 Padova, Italy
| | - A Fassina
- Consorzio RFX, Corso Stati Uniti 4, I-35127 Padova, Italy
| | - E Martines
- Consorzio RFX, Corso Stati Uniti 4, I-35127 Padova, Italy
| | - D Terranova
- Consorzio RFX, Corso Stati Uniti 4, I-35127 Padova, Italy
| | - F Sattin
- Consorzio RFX, Corso Stati Uniti 4, I-35127 Padova, Italy
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Yang K, Guo Y, Ding MD. ON THE 2012 OCTOBER 23 CIRCULAR RIBBON FLARE: EMISSION FEATURES AND MAGNETIC TOPOLOGY. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2015. [DOI: 10.1088/0004-637x/806/2/171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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Tripathi SKP, Gekelman W. Laboratory simulation of arched magnetic flux rope eruptions in the solar atmosphere. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2010; 105:075005. [PMID: 20868055 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.105.075005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2010] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
Dramatic eruption of an arched magnetic flux rope in a large ambient plasma has been studied in a laboratory experiment that simulates coronal loops. The eruption is initiated by laser generated plasma flows from the footpoints of the rope that significantly modify the magnetic-field topology and link the magnetic-field lines of the rope with the ambient plasma. Following this event, the flux rope erupts by releasing its plasma into the background. The resulting impulse excites intense magnetosonic waves that transfer energy to the ambient plasma and subsequently decay.
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Affiliation(s)
- S K P Tripathi
- Physics and Astronomy, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
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Cooper CM, Gekelman W, Pribyl P, Lucky Z. A new large area lanthanum hexaboride plasma source. THE REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS 2010; 81:083503. [PMID: 20815604 DOI: 10.1063/1.3471917] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
A new 18x18 cm(2) active area lanthanum hexaboride (LaB(6)) plasma source for use in a dc discharge has been developed at UCLA. The cathode consists of four tiled LaB(6) pieces indirectly heated to electron emission (1750 degrees C) by a graphite heater. A molybdenum mesh anode 33 cm in front of the LaB(6) accelerates the electrons, ionizing a fill gas to create a 20x20 cm(2) nearly square plasma. The source is run in pulsed operation with the anode biased up to +400 V dc with respect to the cathode for up to 100 ms at a 1 Hz repetition rate. Both the cathode and anode "float" electrically with respect to the chamber walls. The source is placed in a toroidal chamber 2 m wide and 3 m tall with a major radius of 5 m. Toroidal and vertical magnetic fields confine the current-free plasma which follows the field in a helix. The plasma starts on the bottom of the machine and spirals around it up to four times (120 m) and can be configured to terminate either on the top wall or on the neutral gas itself. The source typically operates with a discharge current up to 250 A in helium making plasmas with T(e)<30 eV, T(i)<16 eV, and n(e)<3x10(13) cm(-3) in a background field of 100 G<B(o)<320 G, giving a magnetized plasma with 0.1<beta<1.
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Affiliation(s)
- C M Cooper
- University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
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