New UW center will study plasma in the lab, in the cosmos

Plasma physics and astrophysics may sound as far apart to you as the Earth and sun, but the two disciplines have a lot in common. Now, a five-year, $11.25 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will bring them even closer together.

The grant will fund a multi-institutional center led by UW–Madison that will focus on the behavior of plasma – a hot, electrically charged gas that can be found throughout the visible universe and could one day power cities with clean, renewable energy from fusion.

Even though astrophysicists and plasma physicists work in different realms – the entire visible universe versus Earth-based experimental laboratories – the two groups search for answers to similar questions, such as why plasma produces part of the magnetic field that confines it, or why it spins around stars. The answers could explain how matter falls into black holes or how we could produce fusion energy – the same energy produced by stars – here on Earth.

The new center, called “The Center for Magnetic Self-Organization in Laboratory and Astrophysical Plasmas” and designated an NSF “Physics Frontier Center,” will merge the two realms, along with the scientists who work in them, to investigate plasma behavior. Bringing them together could lead to new theories and data on how plasma behaves, says Stewart Prager, UW–Madison professor of physics and director of the center.

“To solve problems in astrophysics, you have to solve problems in plasma physics,” he says. And vice versa, adds the Wisconsin physicist: “The biggest gain from the new center will be the transfer of ideas.”

The Physics Frontier Center will be a boon not just to a group of international scientists, but also to the UW–Madison campus. The center will involve faculty, staff and students from the departments of physics, engineering physics and astronomy.

With its large community of scientists interested in plasma, Prager says that the university has “the full spectrum of persons here involved in this new project. It is a tremendous opportunity for the whole plasma physics effort on campus.”

UW–Madison’s existing plasma laboratory in the physics department also will play a role. The Madison Symmetric Torus (MST) – a doughnut-shaped device that heats and confines plasma – will be involved in experiments that exhibit phenomena similar to those observed by astrophysicists. The objective, says Prager, who directs the MST experiment, is to provide quantitative data to support or refute theories about plasma behavior. At the same time, he says, “it will broaden the scope of our experimental activity.”

Prager points out that MST’s involvement in the center also represents a partnership between the NSF, through its funding of the new center, and the Department of Energy, through its annual $5 million funding of the MST.

“There is a cross-fertilization between the two efforts, and this makes for an interesting program,” says Prager – not to mention the expected $37 million in combined funding during the next five years.

Other institutions participating in the new center include the University of Chicago, Princeton University, Swarthmore College, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Science Applications International Corp.