As the Earth orbits the sun, it plows through a stream of fast-moving particles that can interfere with satellites and global positioning systems. Now, a team of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and Princeton University has reproduced a process that occurs in space to deepen understanding of what happens when the Earth encounters this solar wind.

The team used computer simulations to model the movement of a jet of plasma, the charged state of matter composed of electrons and atomic nuclei that makes up all the stars in the sky, including our sun. Many cosmic events can produce plasma jets, from relatively small star burps to gigantic stellar explosions known as supernovae. When fast-moving plasma jets pass through the slower plasma that exists in the void of space, it creates what is known as a collision-less shock wave.

These shocks also occur as Earth moves through the solar wind and can influence how the wind swirls into and around Earth's magnetosphere, the protective magnetic shield that extends into space. Understanding plasma shock waves could help scientists to forecast the space weather that develops when the solar wind swirls into the magnetosphere and enable the researchers to protect satellites that allow people to communicate across the globe.

The simulations revealed several telltale signs indicating when a shock is forming, including the shock's features, the three stages of the shock's formation, and phenomena that could be mistaken for a shock. "By being able to distinguish a shock from other phenomena, scientists can feel confident that what they are seeing in an experiment is what they want to study in space," said Derek Schaeffer, an associate research scholar in the Princeton University Department of Astrophysics who led the PPPL research team. The findings were reported in a paper published in Physics of Plasmas that followed up on previous research reported here and here.

The plasma shocks that occur in space, like those created by Earth traveling against the solar wind, resemble the shock waves created in Earth's atmosphere by supersonic jet aircraft. In both occurrences, fast-moving material encounters slow or stationary material and must swiftly change its speed, creating an area of swirls and eddies and turbulence.

But in space, the interactions between fast and slow plasma particles occur without the particles touching one another. "Something else must be driving this shock formation, like the plasma particles electrically attracting or repelling each other," Schaeffer said. "In any case, the mechanism is not fully understood."

To increase their understanding, physicists conduct plasma experiments in laboratories to monitor conditions closely and measure them precisely. In contrast, measurements taken by spacecraft cannot be easily repeated and sample only a small region of plasma. Computer simulations then help the physicists interpret their laboratory data.

Today, most laboratory plasma shocks are formed using a mechanism known as a plasma piston. To create the piston, scientists shine a laser on a small target. The laser causes small amounts of the target's surface to heat up, become a plasma, and move outward through a surrounding, slower-moving plasma.

Schaeffer and colleagues produced their simulation by modeling this process. "Think of a boulder in the middle of fast-moving stream," Schaeffer said. "The water will come right up to the front of the boulder, but not quite reach it. The transition area between quick motion and zero [standing] motion is the shock."

The simulated results will help physicists distinguish an astrophysical plasma shock wave from other conditions that arise in laboratory experiments. "During laser plasma experiments, you might observe lots of heating and compression and think they are signs of a shock," Schaeffer said. "But we don't know enough about the beginning stages of a shock to know from theory alone. For these kinds of laser experiments, we have to figure out how to tell the difference between a shock and just the expansion of the laser-driven plasma."

In the future, the researchers aim to make the simulations more realistic by adding more detail and making the plasma density and temperature less uniform. They would also like to run experiments to determine whether the phenomena predicted by the simulations can in fact occur in a physical apparatus. "We'd like to put the ideas we talk about in the paper to the test," says Schaeffer.

Research paper

Related Links
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Earth Observation News - Suppiliers, Technology and Application

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Calling for ideas for next Earth Explorer
Paris (ESA) May 26, 2020
As part of ESA's continuing commitment to realise cutting-edge satellite missions to advance the scientific understanding of our planet and to show how new technologies can be used in space, a new Call for Earth Explorer mission ideas has been released. The Call invites scientists working in Earth observation to submit ideas for ESA's 11th Earth Explorer mission. Our planet works as a complex system that involves considerable natural variability, but human activity is taking its toll on many ... read more