How to reproduce energetic astrophysical processes with laboratory and simulation studies?
| When |
Mar 06, 2017
from 11:00 to 12:00 |
|---|---|
| Where | Amphi. Schrödinger |
| Attendees |
Mark Dieckmann |
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The interaction of an energetic laser pulse with a solid target can ionize the material close to
the target's surface. This hot ionized medium or plasma expands into the surrounding space.
The most powerful contemporary lasers allow us to recreate for a short time the extreme
conditions, which we find in stars and in energetic astrophysical plasma. One important research
area of the emerging discipline laboratory astrophysics is the study of the formation and initial
evolution of plasma shocks. Such shocks ensheath the blast shells that are ejected by the stellar
explosions that are known as supernovae. I will provide in my talk an overview of how you can
create shocks with a laser pulse and how you detect their electromagnetic signatures. I will
exemplify how one can identify the plasma processes that unfold in the plasma by comparing
the experimentally obtained data with that computed by a simulation. I present for this purpose
the results of a recent large-scale particle-in-cell simulation that shows how a shock forms.
