Exploring astrophysics-relevant magnetohydrodynamics with pulsed-power laboratory facilities

S. V. Lebedev, A. Frank, and D. D. Ryutov
Rev. Mod. Phys. 91, 025002 – Published 25 April 2019

Abstract

Laboratory facilities employing high pulsed currents and voltages, and called generally “pulsed-power facilities,” allow experimenters to produce a variety of hydrodynamical structures replicating, often in a scalable fashion, a broad range of dynamical astrophysical phenomena. Among these are astrophysical jets and outflows, astrophysical blast waves, magnetized radiatively dominated flows, and, more recently, aspects of simulated accretion disks. The magnetic field thought to play a significant role in most of the aforementioned objects is naturally present and controllable in pulsed-power environments. The size of the objects produced in pulsed-power experiments ranges from a centimeter to tens of centimeters, thereby allowing the use of a variety of diagnostic techniques. In a number of situations astrophysical morphologies can be replicated down to the finest structures. The configurations and their parameters are highly reproducible; one can vary them to isolate the most important phenomena and thereby help in developing astrophysical models. This approach has emerged as a useful tool in the quest to better understand magnetohydrodynamical effects in astronomical environments. The present review summarizes the progress made during the last decade and is designed to help readers identify and, perhaps, implement new experiments in this growing research area. Techniques used for the generation and characterization of the flows are described.

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  • Received 11 July 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.91.025002

© 2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Plasma Physics

Authors & Affiliations

S. V. Lebedev

  • Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom

A. Frank

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA

D. D. Ryutov*

  • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, California 94551, USA

  • *Retired.

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Issue

Vol. 91, Iss. 2 — April - June 2019

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