Spiky electric and magnetic field structures in flux rope experiments

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 re...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 116; no. 37; pp. 18239 - 18244
Main Authors Gekelman, W., Tang, S. W., DeHaas, T., Vincena, S., Pribyl, P., Sydora, R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 10.09.2019
Subjects
ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS
colliding flux ropes
Computer simulation
Fluctuations
flux ropes
Helicity
Magnetic fields
Magnetic flux
Magnetic properties
magnetic reconnection
nonlinear structures
Physical Sciences
Planetary magnetic fields
Probability density functions
science & technology - other topics
Statistical analysis
time domain structures
Venus
nonlinear structures
colliding flux ropes
time domain structures
flux ropes
magnetic reconnection
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Summary: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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National Science Foundation (NSF)
FC02-07ER54918; NSF-PHY-1036140
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
Edited by Snezhana I. Abarzhi, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia, and accepted by Editorial Board Member David A. Weitz May 27, 2018 (received for review December 8, 2017)
Author contributions: W.G., S.W.T., T.D., S.V., P.P., and R.S. performed research; W.G., S.W.T., T.D., S.V., and R.S. analyzed data; W.G. wrote the paper; and S.V. and R.S. helped in writing/editing.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1721343115