Laboratory blast wave experiments provide insights on interactions between supernova remnants
Laboratory blast wave experiments provide insights on interactions between supernova remnants lead image
Interactions between supernova remnants can have important structural impacts on the interstellar medium, but are difficult to study due to the long timescales involved. Albertazzi et al. developed an analogous model to study the interaction region by looking at the collision of two blast waves created by high-power laser irradiation of carbon rods inside a target chamber filled with nitrogen gas.
The authors used the LULI2000 pulsed laser at the Laboratoire pour l’Utilisation des Lasers Intenses in Paris, France to create Taylor-Sedov blast waves — the type of wave that occurs in late phase explosions of supernovae. They probed the properties of the background gas in the interaction region between the two waves, such as its electron density and its temperature.
By observing changes in the spectral lines, the researchers found the interaction creates a high-temperature zone up to 20% hotter than the single blast wave case. The region remains at the elevated temperature long after the start of the interaction. Additionally, the development of electron density gradients as a result of the interaction can produce small-scale magnetic fields in the interstellar region.
Many of the parameters of the interaction region depend on the nature of the gas where the interaction occurs.
“To properly apply these laboratory results to the study of supernova remnant interaction phenomena, we must work on developing scaling laws that take atomic compositions into account,” said author Bruno Albertazzi.
The team has begun developing these scaling laws, which will aid in the study of interaction phenomena.
Source: “Experimental characterization of the interaction zone between counter-propagating Taylor Sedov blast waves,” by B. Albertazzi, P. Mabey, Th. Michel, G. Rigon, J.-R. Marques, S. Pikuz, S. Ryazantsev, E. Falize, L. Van Box Som, J. Meinecke, N. Ozaki, A. Ciardi, G. Gregori, and M. Koenig, Physics of Plasmas (2020). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5137795 .
