Laboratory modeling of supersonic radiative jets propagation in plasmas and their scaling to astrophysical conditions

Abstract

Supersonic jets propagation over considerable distances and their interactions with surrounding media is one of the important subjects in astrophysics. Laboratory-created jets have completely different scales, however, typical velocities are the same, and the similarity criteria can be applied to scale them to astrophysical conditions. Moreover, by choosing appropriate pairs of colliding plasmas, one can fulfil the scaling conditions for the radiation emission rates. In this paper we present the results of studies of interaction of laser-created jets with gas-puff plasmas at the PALS laser facility. By varying the gas pressure and composition, the nature of the interaction zone changes from a quasi-adiabatic outflow to a strongly radiation cooling jet. The fine scale structures of the interaction zone are studied by means of optical and x-ray diagnostics, and they are interpreted with a semi-analytical model and 2D radiation hydrodynamic simulations. The conclusions from the laboratory experiment are scaled to the astrophysical conditions.