Characterization of Standing Alfvén Waves Driven by Interaction Between Magnetic Fields and Compact Toroids

Alfven waves are low-frequency, transverse magnetic tension waves that travel along magnetic field lines and can be excited in any electrically conducting fluid permeated by a magnetic field. They are commonly found in space, responsible for many well-known features, such as heating of the Sun's outer atmosphere, acceleration of solar wind, and aurora formed in high-latitude regions of the Earth. In this work, we present observations of standing Alfven waves excited by injecting compact toroid (CT) plasmas into a static Helmholtz magnetic field at the Big Red Ball (BRB) Facility at Wisconsin Plasma Physics Laboratory (WIPPL). The CT plasmas are injected in parallel with the magnetic field. The topology of the magnetic field in the standing Alfven waves is characterized using a 3-axis Bdot probe array.