Supernova-relevant hydrodynamic instability experiments on the Nova laser

Journal Article · Tue Apr 15 00:00:00 EDT 1997 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.53577· OSTI ID:21167510

Kane, J ^[1]; Arnett, D ^[1]; Remington, B A; Glendinning, S G; Wallace, R; Managan, R ^[2]; Rubenchik, A ^[3]; Fryxell, B A ^[4]

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1. University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 (United States)
2. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, California 94550 (United States)
3. University of California Davis (United States)
4. Institute for Computational Science and Informatics, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia 22030 (United States)

Observations of Supernova 1987A suggest that hydrodynamic instabilities play a critical role in the evolution of supernovae. To test the modeling of these instabilities, and to study instability issues which are difficult to model, we are developing laboratory experiments of hydrodynamic mixing under conditions relevant to supernovae. We use the Nova laser to generate a 10-15 Mbar shock at the interface between an 85 {mu}m thick layer of Cu and a 500 {mu}m layer of CH{sub 2}; our first target is planar. We impose a single mode sinusoidal material perturbation at the interface with {lambda}=200 {mu}m, {eta}{sub 0}=20 {mu}m, causing perturbation growth by the RM instability as the shock accelerates the interface, and by RT instability as the interface decelerates. This resembles the hydrodynamics of the He-H interface of a Type II supernova at intermediate times, up to a few x10{sup 3} s. We use the supernova code PROMETHEUS and the hydrodynamics codes HYADES and CALE to model the experiment. We are designing further experiments to compare results for 2D vs. 3D single mode perturbations; high resolution 3D modeling requires prohibitive time and computing resources, but we can perform and study 3D experiments as easily as 2D experiments. Low resolution simulations suggest that the perturbations grow 50% faster in 3D than in 2D; such a difference may help explain the high observed velocities of radioactive core material in SN1987A. We present the results of the experiments and simulations.

• OSTI ID: 21167510
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 406, Issue 1; Conference: 13. international conference on laser interactions and related plasma phenomena, Monterey, CA (United States), 13-18 Apr 1997; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.53577; (c) 1997 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
C CODES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
COPPER
DISTURBANCES
ETHYLENE
HYDRODYNAMICS
LASER FUSION REACTORS
LASER TARGETS
LASER-PRODUCED PLASMA
NEODYMIUM LASERS
NOVA FACILITY
P CODES
PLASMA MACROINSTABILITIES
PLASMA SIMULATION
RESOLUTION
SUPERNOVAE