Date of Award

Spring 2007

Document Type

Restricted Thesis

Terms of Use

© 2007 Jason Horwitz. All rights reserved. Access to this work is restricted to users within the Swarthmore College network and may only be used for non-commercial, educational, and research purposes. Sharing with users outside of the Swarthmore College network is expressly prohibited. For all other uses, including reproduction and distribution, please contact the copyright holder.

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Physics & Astronomy Department

First Advisor

Michael R. Brown

Second Advisor

David H. Cohen

Abstract

Results are presented from measurements of flow on spheromaks at the Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment. Mach probes of two different sizes, corresponding to two different methods of analysis, are used to make these flow measurements. Flows of as high as 70 km/s are detected in the single spheromak, as well as subsequent reversals of flow toward the edges of the spheromak. There is little flow perpendicular to the magnetic fields in a single spheromak, confirming that SSX spheromaks exhibit the property of frozen-in flux. Measurements during counter-helicity merging of two axially aligned spheromaks tentatively confirm the presence of bidirectional jets due to reconnection in the azimuthal direction. The azimuthal component of this outflow reaches speeds of 10 km/s during the expected time frame for reconnection.

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