SHINE: Improving Understanding of Solar Corona Dynamics Using Laboratory Simulations of Coronal Loops

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The Principal Investigator (PI) will perform laboratory simulations of solar coronal phenomena using a plasma chamber with pulsed power technology. The plasma experimental regime will be set to have a time scale that is short compared to the resistive diffusion time in order to "freeze in" magnetic flux, yet that is sufficiently long compared to the Alfven time to allow evolution through a sequence of distinct states. These plasmas will undergo complex morphological changes that depend on imposed boundary conditions, such as normal magnetic field, current density, and plasma mass flux. By controlling these boundary conditions, a wide variety of experimental plasma configurations will be produced simulating, for example, a single solar coronal loop, two adjacent loops of same or opposite helicity, or an eight loop "spider-leg" configuration. The various experimental configurations and diagnostics will be used to investigate several different solar-relevant phenomena, including magnetohydrodynamic (MHD)-driven jets, a recently-discovered non-MHD "kinetic" jet, and x-ray emission associated with merging of adjacent plasma-filled magnetic flux tubes.Reproducible plasma configurations will be created once every two minutes. Plasma behavior will be determined using advanced diagnostics, including high speed digital imaging at framing rates up to 200 million frames per second, imaging spectroscopy to measure time- and space-resolved density, laser interferometry to measure line-averaged density, multi-element magnetic probes to measure internal magnetic fields, and a pinhole x-ray camera to image x-ray sources. Experimental measurements will be compared to predictions of theoretical models and then used to improve, modify, or challenge these models. The PI will involve a graduate student in these experiments, as well as use the results for training undergraduates. The PI has a record of commitment to increasing the number of women PhD scientists working in plasma physics. He has also sustained a successful public outreach program through of the highly visual nature of his experiments, which have been featured in colorful graphics on the covers of major science journals and in textbooks.