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American physicists have launched a "mini-Sun" in the laboratory
01 August 2019 - 10:40 | Interesting information
New installation BRB for the first time will allow to model the spiral movement of plasma and other mysterious processes on the Sun.
The sun is the source of life on Earth, but many of the processes taking place in this gigantic thermonuclear reactor remain obscure. For their simulation, scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison launched a unique installation - Big Red Ball (“Big Red Ball”, BRB). In an article published in the journal Nature Physics, Ethan Peterson and his colleagues demonstrate how the new tool will help to better explore the mysteries of the star.
BRB is a three-meter hollow, filled with helium plasma sphere with a superpowerful magnet in the center. Such a device is not able to replace the observations of spacecraft, but allows you to look into areas inaccessible to them. In particular, with its help physicists managed to simulate the spiral motion of the solar wind for the first time.
The fact is that the rotation of the Sun carries with it its powerful magnetic field, so that its lines of force twist. This "Parker spiral" is recorded far from the star itself, determining the magnetic field in the entire solar system. With the help of BRB, scientists have shown that fast charged plasma particles can move in spirals along areas of weakening of the magnetic field.
Similar conditions on the Sun are capable of creating plasma clots that stimulate the movement of the solar wind - a stream of particles continuously emitted by a star. The mechanisms that give acceleration to the solar wind are still not well understood. Their research should be one of the main areas of work of the new tool.
