Dependence of Alfven wave damping on plasma parameters in LAPD

POSTER

Abstract

Alfvén waves, named after Swedish physicist Hannes Alfvén, resemble the vibrations of plucked guitar strings, except in this case, the plasma waves are caused by wiggling magnetic fields. Alfvén wave processes that cause damping of wave energy are posited to play a crucial role in heating the solar corona and influencing space weather. Theoretically, the basic damping process of Alfvén waves is posited to depend on background plasma parameters and wave properties, such as wave frequency and perpendicular wavelength. In this project, we have measured the dependence of Alfvén wave energy on background plasma parameters and perpendicular wavelength of the Alfvén wave. The wave experiments were conducted in the Large Plasma Device located at UCLA. Our research builds on the previous works of Thuecks et al.[1] and Bose et al.[2]. The results of our experiments and analysis are presented.

Publication: 1. Thuecks et al., Phys. Plasmas 16, 052110 (2009)
2. Bose et al., ApJ 882, 183 (2019)

Presenters

  • Aryiadna Yesmanchyk

    New Jersey Institute of Technology

Authors

  • Aryiadna Yesmanchyk

    New Jersey Institute of Technology

  • Sayak Bose

    Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL)

  • Stephen T Vincena

    University of California, Los Angeles

  • Shreekrishna Tripathi

    University of California, Los Angeles

  • Jason Tenbarge

    Princeton University

  • Michael Hahn

    Columbia University in the city of New York, Columbia University

  • Daniel Wolf Savin

    Columbia University

  • Patrick Pribyl

    University of California , Los Angeles, University of California, Los Angeles

  • Mel Abler

    University of California Los Angeles

  • Jia Han

    University of California, Los Angeles, University of California Los Angeles

  • Hantao Ji

    Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University