Caltech Physicists Discover “Double Helix,” a New Equilibrium State of Cosmic Plasma

Caltech experiments uncovered a stable double helix state in plasma flux ropes. The same principles explain cosmic structures such as the Double Helix Nebula. Research into the Sun’s outer atmosphere has led Caltech applied physics professor Paul Bellan and his former graduate student Yang Zhang (PhD ’24) to identify a previously unknown equilibrium state of [...]