Scaled ICME through a Gradient Magnetic Field*

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are solar explosions that send out large amounts of solar plasma and magnetic energy into the interplanetary medium (IM). These CMEs then reach planetary orbits and are then called Interplane- tary CMEs (ICMEs). ICMEs are the source of geomagnetic storms which cause severe issues for satellites and human electrical systems. In a recent publication, we showed that we can create a scaled ICME event to study using the Big Red Ball facility at the Wisconsin Plasma Physics Laboratory (WIPPL), where we launched a compact torus (CT) of plasma acting as a scaled ICME into a back- ground plasma magnetized by a Helmholtz configuration to act as the scaled IM [1]. Since then, we have changed the magnetic configuration to impose a gradi- ent magnetic field to test the idea that a gradient magnetic field would change the trajectory of the scaled ICME. The experiment was diagnosed with triaxial B-dot probes that provide temporal and spatial information as well as a time resolved Langmuir probe placed at a single location. We provide preliminary analysis of the temperature and density data from this experiment.

References

[1] K. Bryant, R. P. Young, H. J. LeFevre, C. C. Kuranz, J. R. Olson, K. J. McCollam, and C. B. Forest. Creating and studying a scaled interplanetary coronal mass ejection. Physics of Plasmas, 31(4), Apr 2024.