Turbulence and Transport in Magnetized Filamentary Structures

研究人员将研究磁化等离子体中丝状结构中的波动湍流以及相关的热量和质量传输。许多空间等离子体中都存在丝状结构，包括日冕和极光电离层。一般来说，丝状结构是磁化等离子体中自组织的一种表现，它们的存在可以对介质的整体输运性质产生深远的影响。其方法是在实验室中研究温度、密度和电流细丝在受控条件下的动力学，并将结果与理论和模型研究联系起来，允许将观察到的行为推广到自然产生的等离子体中遇到的情况。实验将在加州大学洛杉矶分校的大型等离子体设备(LAPD)中进行。该实验计划侧重于通过各种技术产生的密度、温度和电流的窄磁场排列结构。新的洛杉矶警察局设备可用于探索这些专题的独特环境将允许对用于解释由空间和时间分辨率提高的新一代航天器获得的数据的模型进行严格审查。这项研究将阐明与基础等离子体物理相关的问题。等离子体在太空中无处不在，并有许多实际应用。了解自然和人工产生的等离子体的行为对于解决基本的科学问题以及提高地球上基于等离子体的系统的性能至关重要。

The investigators will study wave turbulence and associated transport of heat and mass in filamentary structures in magnetized plasmas. Filamentary structures are encountered in many space plasmas, including the solar corona and the auroral ionosphere. In general, filamentary structures are a manifestation of self-organization in magnetized plasmas and their presence can have a profound impact on the global transport properties of the medium. The methodology is to study the dynamics of temperature, density and current filaments under controlled conditions in the laboratory and to relate the results to theoretical and modeling studies that permit the generalization of the observed behavior to situations encountered in naturally occurring plasmas. Experiments are to be performed in the Large Plasma Device (LAPD) at UCLA. The experimental program focuses on narrow magnetic field-aligned structures in density, temperature, and current created by various techniques. The unique environment available in the new LAPD device for the exploration of these topics will allow for a critical scrutiny of the models used to interpret data acquired by a new generation of spacecraft having increased spatial and temporal resolution. The research will shed light on problems related to basic plasma physics. Plasmas are ubiquitous in space and have many practical applications. Understanding the behavior of natural and artificially created plasmas is essential to solving fundamental scientific problems as well as improving the performance of plasma-based systems on earth.