Inviscid Two-Dimensional Fluid Dynamics Experiments with Magnetized Electron Columns

Inviscid two-dimensional (2D) fluid phenomena like hurricanes, jet streams, Jupiter’s Red Spot, and protoplanetary disks are quite common in Nature. Unfortunately, 2D fluid phenomena are difficult to study in the laboratory because the finite size of laboratory apparati commonly introduces unwanted viscous and friction effects. Magnetized electron columns, however, behave like twodimensional fluids and are not subject to viscous effects [1]. The columns behave like fluids because the equations which govern their behavior, the Drift-Poisson Equations, are identical to the 2D inviscid Euler equations which govern 2D fluids. More precisely, the columns follow E ×B dynamics, i.e their velocity v is v = E ×B/B2, (1)