CAREER: Physics of Non-Neutral and Electron-Positron Plasmas Confined in the CNT Stellarator

这个CAREER项目的重点是在哥伦比亚非中性环（CNT）中创建和研究受限的非中性和电子-正电子等离子体，并利用这个研究项目与研究生，本科生，高中教师和学生以及公众进行互动和教育。 CNT是一种独特而简单的环形磁约束装置，是专门为这里提出的研究而设计的。它将首次允许系统地研究具有任意中性度的等离子体，从纯电子到准中性，系统地研究极端电场和强流存在下的环形磁约束，以及创建第一个实验室正负电子等离子体。电子-正电子等离子体的独特之处在于两种物质之间的质量比为1，电荷比为1。因此，这些等离子体是高度对称的，与常规的离子-电子等离子体非常不同。因此，电子-正电子等离子体具有独特的性质，例如不支持声波和静电漂移波。与此同时，它们可以比离子-电子等离子体更容易地进行数值和解析分析，因为这两种物质在相同的空间和时间尺度上进化。电子-正电子等离子体可以被认为是等离子体物理学中的氢原子，是最简单的等离子体。 CNT是最先进的大学实验，有很大程度的研究生和本科生的参与。它是未来实验科学家的理想训练基地。它还促进了与高中科学教师和学生的互动和合作，这种合作将在未来进一步扩大。

This CAREER project is focuses on creating and studying confined non-neutral and electron-positron plasmas in the Columbia Non-neutral Torus (CNT), and to use this research program to interact with and educate graduate students, undergraduate students, high school teachers and students, and the general public. CNT is a unique and simple toroidal magnetic confinement device that is specifically designed for the studies proposed here. It will, for the first time, allow a systematic study of plasmas with arbitrary degree of neutrality, from pure electron to quasi-neutral, a systematic study of toroidal magnetic confinement in the presence of extreme electric fields and strong flows, and the creation of the first ever laboratory electron-positron plasma. Electron-positron plasmas are unique in that the mass ratio between the two species is one and the charge ratio is one. Hence, these plasmas are highly symmetric and very different from regular ion-electron plasmas. As a result, electron-positron plasmas have unique properties, such as not supporting acoustic waves and electrostatic drift waves. At the same time, they can be analyzed numerically and analytically more easily than ion-electron plasmas, because both species evolve on the same spatial and temporal scales. Electron-positron plasmas may be considered the hydrogen atom of plasma physics, the simplest possible plasmas. CNT is a state of the art University experiment, with a large degree of involvement of graduate and undergraduate students. It is an ideal training ground for future experimental scientists. It also facilitates interaction and collaboration with high school science teachers and students, a collaboration that will be further expanded in the future.