Laboratory Investigation of Waves Driven by Inhomogeneity in the Magnetic-Field-Aligned Ion Flow

该项目将利用实验室等离子体实验来研究可能对高纬度磁层-电离层耦合很重要的等离子体不稳定性。这些实验将使用西弗吉尼亚大学的Q机器进行，该机器是专门为产生与空间等离子体相关的条件而设计的。我们将研究三种不稳定机制。第一种机制从垂直于磁场的电子电流中获得必要的自由能。第二种机制涉及平行电流的丝化，第三种机制以平行速度剪切机的作用为中心。

This project will utilize laboratory plasma experiments to investigate plasma instabilities that are likely to be of importance to magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling at high latitudes. The experiments will be performed using the West Virginia University's Q machine, which was specifically designed to generate conditions that would be relevant to space plasmas. Three instability mechanisms will be studied. The first mechanism derives the necessary free energy from the electron current perpendicular to the magnetic field. The second mechanism involves the filamentation of parallel currents, and the third mechanism centers on the role of parallel velocity shears.