Dartmouth Events

Abstract: Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma process which explosively dissipates magnetic energy and changes magnetic topology. In many astrophysical plasmas, such as the solar chromosphere, the interstellar medium, and pulsar magnetospheres, the heated plasma rapidly radiates away thermal energy in the form of high energy X-rays, leading to cooling instabilities including the complete radiative collapse of the reconnection layer. Analytical theory by Uzdensky and McKinney suggests this collapse process dramatically accelerates the reconnection rate, and simulations suggest that the plasmoids formed through the tearing instability are the regions of strongest emission within the reconnection layer. In this talk, I will present results from experiments designed to study radiatively cooled magnetic reconnection in the laboratory. Using a suite of diagnostics including imaging, spectroscopy, and magnetic probes, we demonstrate the formation of these bright plasmoids and their subsequent rapid cooling and radiative collapse.

Hosted by Physics & Astronomy Colloquium Committee