Criteria for Scaled Laboratory Simulations of Astrophysical MHD Phenomena

Ryutov, D. D.; Drake, R. P.; Remington, B. A.

doi:10.1086/313320

Cited by 203 publications

(180 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…In this field, experiments are performed in laboratories, simulating various astrophysical processes, probing important features and key properties of these processes, to allow us to examine the physics of these processes. Although systems in different environments possess very different scales that can vary over a huge range, scaling laws of plasma and MHD processes allow us to relate them to the same process in many cases (Ryutov et al 2000). Laser-driven magnetic reconnection (LDMR, Nilson et al 2008;Zhong et al 2010) is one of the most significant topics of the laboratory astrophysics, booms and draws extensive attention lately.…”

Section: Outflows Observed During Laser-driven Reconnectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review on Current Sheets in CME Development: Theories and Observations

et al. 2015

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We introduce how the catastrophe model for solar eruptions predicted the formation and development of the long current sheet (CS) and how the observations were used to recognize the CS at the place where the CS is presumably located. Then, we discuss the direct measurement of the CS region thickness by studying the brightness distribution of the CS region at different wavelengths. The thickness ranges from 10 4 km to about 10 5 km at heights between 0.27 and 1.16 R from the solar surface. But the traditional theory indicates that the CS is as thin as the proton Larmor radius, which is of order tens of meters in the corona. We look into the huge difference in the thickness between observations and theoretical expectations. The possible impacts that affect measurements and results are studied, and physical causes leading to a thick CS region in which reconnection can still occur at a reasonably fast rate are analyzed. Studies in both theories and observations suggest that the difference between the true value and the apparent value of the CS thickness is not significant as long as the CS could be recognised in observations. We review observations that show complex structures and flows inside the CS region and present recent numerical modelling results on some aspects of these structures. Both observations and numerical experiments indicate that the downward reconnection outflows are usually slower than the upward ones in the same eruptive event. Numerical simulations show that the complex structure inside CS and its temporal behavior as a result of turbulence and the Petschek-type slow-mode shock could probably account for the thick CS and fast reconnection. But whether the CS itself is that thick still remains unknown since, for the time being, we cannot measure the electric current directly in that region. We also review the most recent laboratory experiments of reconnection driven by energetic laser beams, and discuss some important topics for future works.

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Section: Outflows Observed During Laser-driven Reconnectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review on Current Sheets in CME Development: Theories and Observations

et al. 2015

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“…This occurs because HED systems often involve strong, fast shock waves, ionizing behavior, highMach-number flows, important radiation energy transport, and sometimes very strong magnetic fields. Several papers [15][16][17] by Ryutov et al discussed the basic aspects of dynamical scaling from the laboratory to astrophysical systems.…”

Section: Relation Of Hed Plasmas To Other Plasmasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives on high-energy-density physics

2009

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Much of 21st century plasma physics will involve work to produce, understand, control, and exploit very nontraditional plasmas. High-energy-density (HED) plasmas are often examples, variously involving strong Coulomb interactions and ⪡1 particles per Debye sphere, dominant radiation effects, and strongly relativistic or strongly quantum-mechanical behavior. Indeed, these and other modern plasma systems often fall outside the early standard theoretical definitions of “plasma.” Here the specific ways in which HED plasmas differ from traditional plasmas are discussed. This is first done by comparison of important physical quantities across the parameter regime accessible by existing or contemplated experimental facilities. A specific discussion of some illustrative cases follows, including strongly radiative shocks and the production of relativistic, quasimonoenergetic beams of accelerated electrons.

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“…It has been shown that the local evolution near an interface is accurately described by the Euler equations, and laser-based laboratory experiments can produce conditions that are well scaled to those in the star over a finite region for a limited time. 47,48 As is detailed in these references, the laboratory system and the SN both have very large Reynolds number, Peclet number, and radiation Peclet number, and both systems are sensibly described as fluids lacking phase transitions in the regime of interest. This implies that the same fluid equations describe both systems.…”

Section: Relevant Laboratory Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stellar explosions, instabilities, and turbulence

Drake¹,

Kuranz²,

Miles³

et al. 2009

Physics of Plasmas

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It has become very clear that the evolution of structure during supernovae is centrally dependent on the pre-existing structure in the star. Modeling of the pre-existing structure has advanced significantly, leading to improved understanding and to a physically based assessment of the structure that will be present when a star explodes. It remains an open question whether low-mode asymmetries in the explosion process can produce the observed effects or whether the explosion mechanism somehow produces jets of material. In any event, the workhorse processes that produce structure in an exploding star are blast-wave driven instabilities. Laboratory experiments have explored these blast-wave-driven instabilities and specifically their dependence on initial conditions. Theoretical work has shown that the relative importance of Richtmyer-Meshkov and RayleighTaylor instabilities varies with the initial conditions and does so in ways that can make sense of a range of astrophysical observations.

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Criteria for Scaled Laboratory Simulations of Astrophysical MHD Phenomena

Cited by 203 publications

References 15 publications

Review on Current Sheets in CME Development: Theories and Observations

Review on Current Sheets in CME Development: Theories and Observations

Perspectives on high-energy-density physics

Stellar explosions, instabilities, and turbulence

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