Energy and momentum transfer from large scale fields and flows to small scale motions of plasma particles is a ubiquitous process both in Heliophysics and distant astrophysical plasmas, but a full picture of the underlying physical mechanisms remains elusive. The transfer is often mediated by a turbulent cascade of Alfvénic fluctuations as well as a variety of kinetic instabilities; these processes tend to be multi-scale and/or multi-dimensional, which makes them difficult to study using spacecraft missions and numerical simulations alone. Meanwhile, existing laboratory devices struggle to produce the collisionless, high beta plasmas across the range of scales necessary for addressing these problems. It is therefore important to build a next generation laboratory facility to create a β ⪆ 1, collisionless, magnetized plasma in the laboratory for the first time. Read more about the idea in our JPP paper in press.
This series of workshops has two major aims:
- Design a device to create a β ≳ 1, collisionless, magnetized plasma in the laboratory for the first time. This new regime will enable novel basic plasma science experiments with broad relevance to space and astrophysical plasmas. For example, we will for the first time be able to study astrophysically relevant collisionless instabilities as well as magnetized plasma turbulence.
- Nurture the budding investigator network working on the device by involving researchers from different parts of the field (space observation, computer simulations, theory, laboratory experiments) and different career stages (including graduate students and postdocs). This broad array of expertise will expose participants to subject areas and research techniques with which they may not be familiar, bringing together groups that have not had the opportunity to previously connect.