Secondary shock formation in xenon-nitrogen mixtures

The expansion of shock waves has been studied in mediums with different opacities and heat capacities, varied in systematic ways by mixing xenon with nitrogen keeping the mass density constant. An initial shock is generated through the brief (5ns) deposition of laser energy (5J) on the tip of a pin surrounded by the xenon-nitrogen mixture. The initial shock is spherical, radiative, with a high Mach number, and it sends a supersonic radiatively driven heat wave far ahead of itself. The heat wave rapidly slows to a transonic regime and when its Mach number drops to ∼2 with respect to the downstream plasma, the heat wave becomes of the ablative type, driving a second shock ahead of itself to satisfy mass and momentum conservation in the heat wave reference frame. The details of this sequence of events depend, among other things, on the opacity and heat capacity of the surrounding medium. Second shock formation is observed over the entire range from 100% Xe mass fraction to 100% N2. The formation radius of th...

[1]  A. Edens,et al.  Laboratory Observation of Secondary Shock Formation Ahead of a Strongly Radiative Blast Wave , 2005 .

[2]  Todd Ditmire,et al.  Laboratory Simulations of Supernova Shockwave Propagation , 2005 .

[3]  V Malka,et al.  Observation of laser driven supercritical radiative shock precursors. , 2004, Physical review letters.

[4]  H. Merdji,et al.  A laser experiment for studying radiative shocks in astrophysics , 2002 .

[5]  R. P. Drake,et al.  Observation of a hydrodynamically driven, radiative-precursor shock. , 2001, Physical review letters.

[6]  Omar Hurricane,et al.  An experimental testbed for the study of hydrodynamic issues in supernovae , 2000 .

[7]  E. Liang,et al.  An Analytic Approximation to Radiative Blast Wave Evolution , 2000 .

[8]  Remington,et al.  Developing a Radiative Shock Experiment Relevant to Astrophysics , 2000, The Astrophysical journal.

[9]  Rupen,et al.  The changing morphology and increasing deceleration of supernova 1993J in M81 , 2000, Science.

[10]  R. P. Drake,et al.  Similarity Criteria for the Laboratory Simulation of Supernova Hydrodynamics , 1999 .

[11]  Hideaki Takabe,et al.  Modeling astrophysical phenomena in the laboratory with intense lasers , 1999 .

[12]  J. Blondin,et al.  Transition to the Radiative Phase in Supernova Remnants , 1998 .

[13]  R. Klein,et al.  Bending Mode Instabilities and Fragmentation in Interstellar Cloud Collisions: A Mechanism for Complex Structure , 1998 .

[14]  T. Piran,et al.  Fluid Dynamics of Semiradiative Blast Waves , 1998, astro-ph/9803258.

[15]  H. W. Moos,et al.  Spatially Resolved STIS Spectroscopy of SN 1987A: Evidence for Shock Interaction with Circumstellar Gas , 1997, astro-ph/9710373.

[16]  G. I. Barenblatt.  Scaling: Self-similarity and intermediate asymptotics , 1996 .

[17]  Forrest J. Rogers,et al.  Updated Opal Opacities , 1996 .

[18]  A. Fabian,et al.  The Three-dimensional Structure of the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant. I. The Spherical Shell , 1995 .

[19]  M. Burton,et al.  Explosive ejection of matter associated with star formation in the Orion nebula , 1993, Nature.

[20]  B. Fryxell,et al.  Instability and clumping in SN 1987A , 1991 .

[21]  J. Meyer-ter-Vehn,et al.  The point explosion with heat conduction , 1991 .

[22]  Resnick,et al.  Instability of Taylor-Sedov blast waves propagating through a uniform gas. , 1991, Physical review letters.

[23]  B. Draine,et al.  Interstellar Shock Waves , 1980, Science.

[24]  Goldstein,et al.  Super-transition-arrays: A model for the spectral analysis of hot, dense plasma. , 1989, Physical review. A, General physics.

[25]  Thiell,et al.  Experimental observation of a radiative wave generated in xenon by a laser-driven supercritical shock. , 1986, Physical review letters.

[26]  D. Mihalas,et al.  Foundations of Radiation Hydrodynamics , 1985 .

[27]  G. I. Barenblatt,et al.  Similarity, Self-Similarity and Intermediate Asymptotics , 1979 .

[28]  J. Ostriker,et al.  A theory of the interstellar medium - Three components regulated by supernova explosions in an inhomogeneous substrate , 1977 .

[29]  Y. Zel’dovich,et al.  Gas Dynamics. (Book Reviews: Physics of Shock Waves and High-Temperature Hydrodynamic Phenomena. Vol. 1) , 1970 .

[30]  G. Righini,et al.  Astrophysics and space science , 1966 .

[31]  C. Tang.  Saturation and Spectral Characteristics of the Stokes Emission in the Stimulated Brillouin Process , 1966 .

[32]  L. Howarth.  Similarity and Dimensional Methods in Mechanics , 1960 .

[33]  J. Cole,et al.  Similarity and Dimensional Methods in Mechanics , 1960 .

[34]  P. Hofstaetter.  [Similarity]. , 2020, Psyche.

[35]  G. Taylor.  The formation of a blast wave by a very intense explosion I. Theoretical discussion , 1950, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences.