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At high temperatures plasmas are generally "frozen" to magnetic field lines. Many plasmas, however, can occasionally break free rapidly in a process called "magnetic reconnection."
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| Research Scientist Dr. Jan Egedal works atop VTF. |
Based on experiments on the VTF device, the group led by Prof. Miklos Porkolab and Dr. Jan Egedal has gained significant new insight into the fundamental mechanisms which allow magnetic field lines to break and reconnect at rapid rates. The experiments show that kinetic effects related to particle orbits can cause the
breakdown of the classical theories. A new theoretical model of reconnection, developed on the basis of the experimental findings in VTF, is now successfully being applied in the interpretation of recent satellite data obtained during reconnection in the Earth's magnetotail. A new experimental configuration in VTF aims to understand the role that turbulence may play in
expediting rapid reconnection.
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