Magnetic reconnection is the breaking and topological rearrangement of magnetic field lines in a plasma. It is one of the most fundamental processes of plasma physics and has important relevance to fusion research, as well as to the physics of the earth's magnetosphere and solar flares. It may also play a key role in heating the plasma in the solar atmosphere, or solar corona.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, PPPL physicists now have available a new device -- the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) -- to study this basic phenomena. MRX is a result of the reconfiguration of the Proto S-1C spheromak, a fusion research machine which was operated at PPPL in the early 1980s.
In the MRX device, two rings of plasma, carrying identical toroidal currents, are produced next to each other. Although the external magnetic field is initially configured to hold the plasmas apart, configurational changes cause an attractive force between the two plasmas, resulting in merging. The merging plasmas then induce magnetic reconnection. This process is similar to what is thought to happen in the solar corona.
Studies on MRX might explain why the sun's corona (2 million degrees Celsius) gets so much hotter than the sun's surface (6,000 degress Celsius). MRX results could play a key role in the interpretation of data from the Yohkoh satellite, which was launched in a joint effort by the USA and Japan and has captured many pictures of solar flares and arcades. The scale of MRX and the richness of its plasma physics make it an ideal facility for student thesis research.Additional Information on MRX:
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