The Center for Magnetic Self-Organization in Laboratory and Astrophysical Plasmas (CMSO) is a Physics Frontier Center established by the National Science Foundation. Its aim is to investigate basic problems in plasma physics, common to the laboratory and cosmos. Magnetic self-organization refers to the tendency of plasmas to rearrange spontaneously through processes that involve changing magnetic fields. Six phenomena form the focus for the Center, all of which can occur as part of the process of magnetic self-organization: dynamo, magnetic reconnection, angular momentum transport, ion heating, magnetic chaos and transport, and magnetic helicity conservation and transport.

The Center brings together laboratory and astrophysical scientists (as well as experimentalists, theorists, and computational scientists) to work together on the common problems. Five experiments are enlisted for this purpose: the Madison Symmetric Torus (MST) reversed field pinch at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) and the Magnetorotational Instability Experiment (MRI), both at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, the the Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment (SSX) at Swarthmore College and the Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment (SSPX) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This set of experiments displays particularly robust magnetic self-organization, and will permit joint investigations of a phenomenon over a range of physical parameters. Computational tools include two large-scale fluid codes: the FLASH code (the University of Chicago) written originally for astrophysical application and the NIMROD code (developed by researchers at many institutions, and sponsored by the US Department of Energy) written for laboratory application. Computation, plus analytic theory, is employed to connect experimental results to theory and astrophysics, as well as to examine new physical mechanisms. Collaborations are also being established with other institutions.

Set up with a funding authorization of five years, the Center was initiated in September, 2003. Much of the established infrastructure-experimental and computational ­ is maintained by the Department of Energy. Hence, the Center can be viewed as a partnership between the NSF and DOE.