Radiation hydrodynamic simulation of a photoionised plasma experiment at the Z facility
Abstract
New, high spectral resolution X-ray observations from astrophysical photoionised plasmas have been recorded in recent years by the Chandra and XMM-Newton orbiting telescopes. These observations provide a wealth of detailed information and have motivated new efforts at developing a detailed understanding of the atomic kinetics and radiation physics of photoionised plasmas. The Z facility at Sandia National Laboratories is a powerful source of X-rays that enables us to produce and study photoionised plasmas in the laboratory under well characterised conditions. We discuss a series of radiation-hydrodynamic simulations to help understand the X-ray environment, plasma hydrodynamics and atomic kinetics in experiments where a collapsing wire array at Z is used as an ionising source of radiation to create a photoionised plasma. The numerical simulations are used to investigate the role that the key experimental parameters have on the photoionised plasma characteristics.
- Publication:
-
Astrophysics and Space Science
- Pub Date:
- November 2011
- DOI:
- 10.1007/s10509-010-0522-8
- Bibcode:
- 2011Ap&SS.336..189H
- Keywords:
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- Photoionised plasma;
- Modelling;
- Simulation;
- Hydrodynamics;
- Atomic-kinetics