Blast-wave-sphere interaction using a laser-produced plasma: an experiment motivated by supernova 1987A.
We present x-ray shadowgraphs from a high Mach number ( approximately 20) laboratory environment that simulate outward flowing ejecta matter from supernovae that interact with ambient cloud matter. Using a laser-plastic foil interaction, we generate a "complex" blast wave (a supersonic flow containing forward and reverse shock waves and a contact discontinuity between them) that interacts with a high-density (100 times ambient) sphere. The experimental results, including vorticity localization, compare favorably with two-dimensional axisymmetric hydrodynamic simulations.
Kang
Y G
YG
Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University, 2-6 Yamada-Oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
Nishihara
K
K
Nishimura
H
H
Takabe
H
H
Sunahara
A
A
Norimatsu
T
T
Nagai
K
K
Kim
H
H
Nakatsuka
M
M
Kong
H J
HJ
Zabusky
N J
NJ