Magnetic fields and Fusion reesearch

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Staff Writer
SPACE.com
Wed Feb 6, 7:01 AM ET



New discoveries about magnetic field lines and the first-ever direct
observation of their reconnection in space are offering hope that
scientists will learn how to unlock fusion power as an energy source
in the future.

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"The reconnection processes in the [Earth's] magnetosphere and in
fusion devices are the same animal," said James Drake, a University of
Maryland physicist.


Space contains magnetic fields that direct the flow of plasma, an
energetic fourth state of matter consisting of positive ions and
electrons. The plasma particles normally follow the paths of the
magnetic field lines like streams of cars following highways.


Magnetic reconnection can release that stored energy when two magnetic
field lines bend towards each other and fuse to create new field
lines. The effect is not unlike an earthquake forcibly realigning
parallel highways into perpendicular routes and channeling cars along
the newly created paths. Although some released plasma energy travels
in a straight line -- called a super-Alfvenic electron jet -- other
plasma particles fan out as though escaping the opening of a trumpet.


The effect not only fascinates astrophysicists but also frustrates
efforts on Earth to create sustained energy sources through fusion.
Experimental fusion reactors force atomic particles to fuse together
and release energy as plasma. The plasma is contained within a
"magnetic bottle," or a cage of magnetic field lines, so that the high
plasma temperatures can maintain the fusion reaction.


However, magnetic reconnection can break the magnetic bottle and allow
plasma to reach the colder walls of the reactor where fusion will not
sustain itself.


Drake became interested in the topic when he looked at early fusion
studies and realized how many theories at the time were "dead wrong"
about magnetic reconnection. To learn more about the phenomenon, he
had to look beyond Earth.


"I started realizing some of the best magnetic reconnection data is in
space," Drake said.


During a sabbatical at the University of California-Berkeley, the
theoretical physicist happened to work in the same office as Tai Phan,
an observational physicist who was looking at magnetic field data from
the European Space Agency's Cluster satellites.


"I was doing theory, Tai was doing data and we suddenly saw this
correspondence," Drake marveled. "It was purely accidental."


The four Cluster satellites crossed through a turbulent plasma region
just outside Earth's magnetic field in January 2003, when they
happened to run into an area where magnetic reconnection had occurred.
Physicists thought such areas, known as electron diffusion regions,
were just over six miles long and so spacecraft would probably miss
them in the vastness of space.


Instead, a new look at the Cluster data showed that the electron
diffusion region measured 1,864 miles long -- 300 times longer than
early theoretical expectations and still four times longer than seen
in the latest astrophysics simulations. That also marked the first
ever direct observations of magnetic reconnection in space.


Although the basic physics behind magnetic reconnection remain a
mystery, Cluster promises that future missions have a good chance of
further examining the phenomenon. One example is NASA's Magnetospheric
Multiscale mission, which will consist of four spacecraft that study
why the plasma particles can become "unfrozen" or unstuck from the
magnetic field lines they normally travel along. Magnetic reconnection
is simply the most "dramatic" example of this, Drake said.


Such an energy release amounts to a conversion of magnetic energy into
particle energy, which can occur in black hole jets and drives solar
flares. Drake hopes to someday create a computer model that can
accurately describe the conversion process -- and if scientists can
also apply some understanding towards improving fusion reactors, so
much the better.

VIDEO: Massive Outburst