Laboratory solar flare simulation using colinear bipolar flux pairs

Thesis/Dissertation · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:6376403

Crockett, G A

The plasma physics process of magnetic field line reconnection is experimentally studied in a Double Solenoid Device (DSD). The DSD incorporates the magnetic topology that Sweet (1958) postulated as necessary for a process where the magnetic fields of two bipolar sun spot groups merge and through reconnection produce a solar flare. Magnetic probing and Kerr Cell photography were used to diagnose the plasma conditions to infer whether or not a solar flare could be simulated, and to test Sweet's Flare hypothesis. The field topology is cylindrically symmetric and contains a semi-circular x-type neutral line and four distinct topological flux cells. Magnetic fields of up to 4 K gauss are generated by a ringing discharge from a 300 ..mu..f high voltage capacitor bank through four linear solenoids embedded in an aluminum base plate. The solenoids are arranged in a colinear N-S-N-S array. The plasma is created by an intense induced electrical discharge through a low pressure (200 millitorr) Argon gas filling the bell jar above the solenoids. The total magnetic field, difference magnetic field, and current densities were measured in the central vertical plane containing the solenoid spots. The magnetic fields reconnected in a quiescent fashion with only a weak and diffuse collisional current system induced near the neutral point region. The currents concentrated above each bipolar flux pair and was explained by an MHD Hall generator effect. The difference magnetic field showed only rough agreement with Sweet's prediction that there should be an O-type topology coincident with the x-topology. The measured reconnected plasma flux lagged the vacuum flux until 20 ..mu..s, i.e. near the end of the first quarter cycle, when they became equal.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Riverside (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6376403
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
SOLAR FLARES
SIMULATION
HALL EFFECT
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC PROBES
MAGNETIC REYNOLDS NUMBER
PLASMA
SOLENOIDS
SUNSPOTS
TOPOLOGY
ELECTRIC COILS
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
MATHEMATICS
PROBES
REYNOLDS NUMBER
SOLAR ACTIVITY
640104* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Solar Phenomena