Astrophysics and Space Science

, Volume 336, Issue 1, pp 21–26 | Cite as

Using intense lasers to simulate aspects of accretion discs and outflows in astrophysics

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Abstract

It is shown that some aspects of the accretion disc physics can be experimentally simulated with the use of an array of properly directed plasma jets created by intense laser beams. For the laser energy of 1 to 3 kJ, one can create a quasi-planar disc with the Reynolds number exceeding 104 and magnetic Reynolds number in the range of 10–100. The way of seeding the disc with the magnetic field by using a cusp magnetic configuration is described.

Keywords

Accretion discs Laboratory astrophysics Turbulence 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryLivermoreUSA

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