Developing an Experimental Platform to Create White Dwarf Photospheres in the Laboratory

We continue to improve upon the laboratory astrophysics experiments to create macroscopic ( 9-38 cm³) hydrogen plasmas with white dwarf (WD) photospheric conditions (electron temperature and density). Falcon et al. (2010) demonstrate the ability to create the plasma and to observe time-resolved spectra throughout its 400 ns lifetime. We extend the observations from emission to absorption spectra, improve the design of the experimental platform, and discuss the astrophysical motivations, spearheaded by recent work in WD spectroscopy and atmosphere modeling.