An Experimental Plasma Dynamo Program for Investigations of Fundamental Processes in Heliophysics

TL;DR

This paper advocates for laboratory plasma experiments to study fundamental heliophysics processes, emphasizing their relevance to space missions and the potential high impact of increased community involvement.

Contribution

It highlights the importance of ground-based plasma experiments in understanding solar dynamo and magnetism, proposing expanded community participation for greater scientific payoff.

Findings

Laboratory plasma experiments can elucidate solar dynamo mechanisms.

Such experiments have direct relevance to NASA and NSF heliophysics missions.

Community involvement enhances research outcomes.

Abstract

Plasma experiments in laboratory settings offer unique opportunities to address fundamental aspects of the solar dynamo and magnetism in the solar atmosphere. We argue here that ground-based laboratory experiments have direct connections to NASA based missions and NSF programs, and that a small investment in laboratory heliophysics may have a high payoff. We advocate for broad involvement in community-scale plasma experiments.