We present experimental observations of seven vibrational levels v = 20 − 26 of the 1 3 Σ + g excited state of Li2 molecules by the photoassociation (PA) of a degenerate Fermi gas of 6 Li atoms. For each vibrational level, we resolve the rotational structure using a Feshbach resonance to enhance the PA rates from p-wave collisions. We also, for the first time, determine the spin-spin and spin-rotation interaction constants for this state. The absolute uncertainty of our measurements is ±0.00002 cm −1 (±600 kHz). We use these new data to further refine an analytic potential for this state.

We report here a new model for explaining the three-part structure of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The model proposes that the cavity in a CME forms because a rising electric current in the core prominence induces an oppositely directed electric current in the background plasma; this eddy current is required to satisfy the frozen-in magnetic flux condition in the background plasma. The magnetic force between the inner-core electric current and the oppositely directed induced eddy current propels the background plasma away from the core, creating a cavity and a density pileup at the cavity edge. The cavity radius saturates when an inward restoring force from magnetic and hydrodynamic pressure in the region outside the cavity edge balances the outward magnetic force. The model is supported by (i) laboratory experiments showing the development of a cavity as a result of the repulsion of an induced reverse current by a rising inner-core flux-rope current, (ii) 3D numerical magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations that reproduce the laboratory experiments in quantitative detail, and (iii) an analytic model that describes cavity formation as a result of the plasma containing the induced reverse current being repelled from the inner core. This analytic model has broad applicability because the predicted cavity widths are relatively independent of both the current injection mechanism and the injection timescale.

We present a new theory for the presence of apex dips in certain experimental flux ropes. Previously such dips were thought to be projections of a helical loop axis generated by the kink instability. However, new evidence from experiments and simulations suggest that the feature is a 2D cusp rather than a 3D helix. The proposed mechanism for cusp formation is a density pileup region generated by nonlinear interaction of neutral gas cones emitted from fast-gas nozzles. The results indicate that density perturbations can result in large distortions of an erupting flux rope, even in the absence of significant pressure or gravitational forces. The density pileup at the apex also suppresses the m=1 kink mode by acting as a stationary node. Consequently, more accurate density profiles should be considered when attempting to model the stability and shape of solar and astrophysical flux ropes.

We present observations of large‐amplitude (δB/B∼ 0.01) oblique whistler wave pulses generated by a spontaneous, 3‐D localized magnetic reconnection event in the Caltech jet experiment. The wave pulses are measured more than 50 ion skin depths from the reconnection location by a tetrahedron array of three‐axis B‐dot probes that mimic the pyramid flight formations of the Cluster and Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission spacecraft. Measurements of background parameters, wave polarization, and wave dispersion confirm that the pulses are whistler modes. These results demonstrate that localized impulsive reconnection events can generate large‐amplitude, oblique whistler wave pulses that propagate far outside the reconnection region. This provides a new pathway for the generation of magnetospheric whistler pulses and may help explain relativistic particle acceleration in phenomena such as solar flares that incorporate 3‐D localized impulsive magnetic reconnection.

We study the dependence of the particle loading rate of a rubidium vapor cell magneto-optic trap (MOT). Using a trap depth determination of the MOT that relies on measurements of loss rates during optical excitation of colliding atoms to a repulsive molecular state, we experimentally determine the MOT escape velocity and show that the loading rate scales with escape velocity to the fourth power, or, equivalently, with the square of the trap depth. We also demonstrate that the loading rate is directly proportional to the background rubidium density. We thus experimentally confirm the loading rate model used in the literature since the invention of the MOT. In addition to confirming this long-standing conjecture, we show that the loading rate dependence can be used to reliably infer the trap depth and to tune the relative depth of a MOT (i.e., capture and escape velocities) when the background density is held fixed. The measurements have allowed an experimental determination of the relationship between capture and escape velocities in our MOTs of v c 1.290.12v e .