Passive, precise plasma jet experiments on the sky
ORAL
Abstract
The typical plasma parameter space has been established for the most luminous, collimated jets in the Universe. They are magnetically dominated energy pipes produced by super-massive black holes, with energy flows in excess of $\sim $ 10$^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$, over supra-galaxy scales. I discuss these jets with examples, and conclude that all current radio telescopes fall short in resolution to provide the important plasma diagnostics in these systems. The solution is within technological reach, if the full imaging resolution of the Enhanced VLA (EVLA) were increased from the current 35 km to a few hundred km. This can be achieved by additional telescopes (\textit{ca}. 6) in the State of New Mexico. The cost of doing this, $\sim $ {\$}200M, is modest when matched against the potential benefits to plasma and fusion science.
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Authors
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Philipp Kronberg
Los Alamos National Laboratory