Bart Van Compernolle

Chaos in magnetic flux ropes

Magnetic flux ropes immersed in a uniform magnetoplasma are observed to twist about themselves, writhe about each other and rotate about a central axis. They are kink unstable and smash into one another as they move. Each collision results in magnetic field line reconnection and the generation of a quasi-separatrix layer. Three-dimensional magnetic field lines are computed by conditionally averaging the data using correlation techniques. Conditional averaging is possible for only a number of rotation cycles as the field line motion becomes chaotic. The permutation entropy can be calculated from the time series of the magnetic field data (this is also done with flows) and is used to calculate the positions of the data on a Jensen–Shannon complexity map. The location of data on this map indicates if the magnetic fields are stochastic, or fall into regions of minimal or maximal complexity. The complexity is a function of space and time. The Lyapunov and Hurst exponents are calculated and the complexity and permutation entropy of the flows and field components are shown throughout the volume.

Electrostatic and whistler instabilities excited by an electron beam

The electron beam-plasma system is ubiquitous in the space plasma environment. Here, using a Darwin particle-in-cell method, the excitation of electrostatic and whistler instabilities by a gyrating electron beam is studied in support of recent laboratory experiments. It is assumed that the total plasma frequency

Experimental study of a linear/non-linear flux rope

\omega_{pe}

Nonlinear convective heat transport in multiple interacting magnetized electron temperature filaments

is larger than the electron cyclotron frequency

Conversion of lower hybrid waves to whistler waves in the presence of a density striation

\Omega_e

Thermal Resonator Experiments Using A Magnetized Electron Temperature Filament

. The fast-growing electrostatic beam-mode waves saturate in a few plasma oscillations by slowing down and relaxing the electron beam parallel to the background magnetic field. Upon their saturation, the finite amplitude electrostatic beam-mode waves can resonate with the tail of the background thermal electrons and accelerate them to the beam parallel velocity. The slower-growing whistler waves are excited in primarily two resonance modes: (a) through Landau resonance due to the inverted slope of the beam electrons in the parallel velocity; (b) through cyclotron resonance by scattering electrons to both lower pitch angles and smaller energies. It is demonstrated that, for a field-aligned beam, the whistler instability can be suppressed by the electrostatic instability due to a faster energy transfer rate between beam electrons and the electrostatic waves. Such a competition of growth between whistler and electrostatic waves depends on the ratio of

Kubo Resistivity of magnetic flux ropes

\omega_{pe}/\Omega_e

Interaction of a Relativistic Electron Beam with Magnetized Plasma

. In terms of wave propagation, beam-generated electrostatic waves are confined to the beam region whereas beam-generated whistler waves transport energy away from the beam.

Tornado-like transport in a magnetized plasma

Flux ropes are magnetic structures of helical field lines, accompanied by spiraling currents. Commonly observed on the solar surface extending into the solar atmosphere, flux ropes are naturally occurring and have been observed by satellites in the near earth and in laboratory environments. In this experiment, a single flux rope (r = 2.5 cm, L = 1100 cm) was formed in the cylindrical, magnetized plasma of the Large Plasma Device (LaPD, L = 2200 cm, rplasma = 30 cm, no = 1012 cm−3, Te = 4 eV, He). The flux rope was generated by a DC discharge between an electron emitting cathode and anode. This fixes the rope at its source while allowing it to freely move about the anode. At large currents (I > πr2B0c/2 L), the flux rope becomes helical in structure and oscillates about a central axis. Under varying Alfven speeds and injection current, the transition of the flux rope from stable to kink-unstable was examined. As it becomes non-linear, oscillations in the magnetic signals shift from sinusoidal to Sawtooth-like, associated with elliptical motion of the flux rope; or the signal becomes intermittent as its current density increases.

Heat Transport in Interacting Magnetized Electron Temperature Filaments

Summary form only given. Results are presented from basic heat transport experiments and gyrokinetic simulations of multiple magnetized electron temperature filaments in close proximity. This arrangement samples cross-field transport from nonlinear drift-Alfven waves and large scale convective cells. Experiments are performed in the Large Plasma Device (LAPD) at UCLA. A biased LaB6 cathode injects low energy electrons (below ionization energy) along a strong magnetic field into a pre-existing large and cold plasma forming an electron temperature filament embedded in a colder plasma, and far from the machine walls. A carbon masking plate with several holes (each 1cm diameter, 1.5 cm apart) is used to create 3 electron temperature filaments. By covering two holes in the mask drift-Alfven and thermal waves from a single filament have been characterized and compared to previous studies with a different electron beam source1. The observed eigenmode structures also compares favor ably with recent 3D gyrokinetic simulations2. The 3-filament case exhibits a complex wave pattern and enhanced cross-field transport. Detailed mode analysis and comparison with non linear simulations is reported.