The Sun Also Writhes
Laboratory solar physics sheds first light on Sol's seething sinews
Experiments conducted by nuclear fusion scientists in the lab provide important insights into the behavior of solar plasmas.
References:
Den Hartog, D.J. . . . S.C. Prager, and J.S. Sarff. In press. Measurement of the core velocity fluctuations and the dynamo in a reversed field pinch. Physics of Plasmas.
Hansen, F., and P.M. Bellan. 1998. Simulation of solar prominences using spheromak technology. Meeting of the American Physical Society's Division of Plasma Physics Meeting. November. New Orleans.
Ji, H., M. Yamada., S. Hsu, and R. Kulsrud. 1998. Experimental test of the Sweet-Parker model of magnetic reconnection. Physical Review Letters 80(April 13):3256.
Rust, D.M., and A. Kumar. 1996. Evidence for helically kinked magnetic flux ropes in solar eruptions. Astrophysical Journal Letters 464:L199.
Further Readings:
Cowen, R. 1999. S shape may help predict solar storms. Science News 155(March 13):164.
______. 1997. Deepening insight into solar outburst. Science News 152(Dec. 20&27):390.
______. 1997. SOHO craft helps solve a solar mystery. Science News 152(Nov. 8):295.
______. 1997. From sun to Earth: Tracking a new storm. Science News 151(April 19):238.
______. 1997. Solar cloud hits Earth's magnetosphere. Science News 151(Feb. 1):68.
Monastersky, R. 1999. Not so sunny weather: When currents go bad. Science News 155(March 6):150.
Vergano, D. 1997. Spacecraft spies hills and valleys of sun. Science News 151(Jan. 4):4.
A hair-raising look at the physics underlying the twisting of solar plasma is available at http://www.pha.jhu.edu/~jaw/SeminarII/helicity.html. There, Johns Hopkins graduate student Julie Ann Watko demonstrates concepts of twistedness, or helicity, with her own hair.
Sources:
Paul Bellan
California Institute of Technology
Department of Applied Physics
Mailstop Code 128-95
Pasadena, CA 91125
Richard Canfield
Montana State University
Department of Physics
Bozeman, MT 59717-3840
John T. Gosling
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Mailstop Code D466
Los Alamos, NM 87545
Freddy Hansen
California Institute of Technology
Department of Applied Physics
Mailstop Code 128-95
Pasadena, CA 91125
Stewart Prager
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Physics Department
1150 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
David Rust
Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory
11100 Johns Hopkins Road
Laurel, MD 20723
John Sarff
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Physics Department
1150 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
Masaaki Yamada
Princeton University
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
P.O. Box 451
Princeton, NJ 08543
From Science News, Vol. 155, No. 13, March 27, 1999, p. 199. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.
