Laboratory Space Physics: Investigating the Physics of Space Plasmas in the Laboratory

TL;DR

Laboratory experiments are a valuable tool for studying space plasma physics, offering controlled, reproducible, and cost-effective insights into phenomena like the solar corona and planetary magnetospheres, complementing spacecraft data.

Contribution

This paper reviews how laboratory experiments can address open questions in space plasma physics and discusses recent successes, future developments, and strategic directions in the field.

Findings

Laboratory experiments have successfully contributed to understanding solar and planetary plasma phenomena.

Advances in diagnostics and experimental facilities are enhancing the study of space plasmas.

Future research will focus on velocity space and innovative analysis methods.

Abstract

Laboratory experiments provide a valuable complement to explore the fundamental physics of space plasmas without the limitations inherent to spacecraft measurements. Specifically, experiments overcome the restriction that spacecraft measurements are made at only one (or a few) points in space, enable greater control of the plasma conditions and applied perturbations, can be reproducible, and are orders of magnitude less expensive than launching spacecraft. Here I highlight key open questions about the physics of space plasmas and identify the aspects of these problems that can potentially be tackled in laboratory experiments. Several past successes in laboratory space physics provide concrete examples of how complementary experiments can contribute to our understanding of physical processes at play in the solar corona, solar wind, planetary magnetospheres, and outer boundary of the heliosphere. I present developments on the horizon of laboratory space physics, identifying velocity space as a key new frontier, highlighting new and enhanced experimental facilities, and showcasing anticipated developments to produce improved diagnostics and innovative analysis methods. A strategy for future laboratory space physics investigations will be outlined, with explicit connections to specific fundamental plasma phenomena of interest.