Merging of dual-plasma arches in a solar prominence simulation experiment
Abstract
Arched plasma structures have been produced for several years in a laboratory experiment at Caltech designed to simulate solar-prominences. In the present configuration, two side-by-side plasma arches are produced by a solar gun mounted on the end dome of a large cylindrical vacuum chamber (1.4 m diameter, 2.0 m long). This gun consists of four electromagnets co-axially mounted behind electrically isolated disk quadrants. Each quadrant can be independently biased and has an orifice to inject gas at the foot-point of the prominence. This quad-solar gun enables production of dual-plasma arches with either co-helicity (both right-handed or both left-handed) or counter- helicity (one right-handed, the other left-handed) configuration. An extremely bright localized region is formed in the counter-helicity merging case at the leading edge of the merged prominences. This bright region produces more than an order of magnitude increase in soft x-ray signal. At lower discharge currents, the plasma eruption is much faster for counter-helicity merging compared to co-helicity merging, whereas at higher discharge currents the plasma erupts with similar rates in both configurations.
- Publication:
-
APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- October 2003
- Bibcode:
- 2003APS..DPPRO1007T