Study of Possibilities of Simulating the Processes of Asymmetric Explosion and Expansion of Supernovae in a Laser Experiment

Abstract

Processes of explosion and expansion of laser targets, experiments with which could clarify the reason for the observed asymmetric distribution of matter in a remnant cloud of some supernovae (e.g., the Cassiopeia A supernova), have been simulated. By analyzing criteria of hydrodynamic similarity of conditions characteristic of an astrophysical object and experiment, targets for absorbed laser energies in the range of 1–100 kJ have been proposed. This work continues a series of previous studies of supernovae and the possibility of simulating a number of processes observed at the explosion of supernovae such as the motion of a shock wave in matter, development of hydrodynamic instabilities at interfaces between shells with different densities, and largescale mixing of layers of the central region of a star with elements initially located at the periphery of the remnant cloud under laboratory conditions with high-power lasers. The studies are based on the numerical simulation of the explosion and explosion of targets using one- and two-dimensional hydrodynamic programs.