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arXiv · 0909.0315

X-ray Astronomy in the Laboratory with a Miniature Compact Object Produced by Laser-Driven Implosion

Shinsuke Fujioka·Hideaki Takabe·Norimasa Yamamoto·David Salzmann·Feilu Wang·Hiroaki Nishimura·Yutong Li·Quanli Dong·Shoujun Wang·Yi Zhang·Yong-Joo Rhee·Yong-Woo Lee·Jae-Min Han·Minoru Tanabe·Takashi Fujiwara·Yuto Nakabayashi·Gang Zhao·Jie Zhang·Kunioki Mima
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Abstract

Laboratory spectroscopy of non-thermal equilibrium plasmas photoionized by intense radiation is a key to understanding compact objects, such as black holes, based on astronomical observations. This paper describes an experiment to study photoionizing plasmas in laboratory under well-defined and genuine conditions. Photoionized plasma is here generated using a 0.5-keV Planckian x-ray source created by means of a laser-driven implosion. The measured x-ray spectrum from the photoionized silicon plasma resembles those observed from the binary stars Cygnus X-3 and Vela X-1 with the Chandra x-ray satellite. This demonstrates that an extreme radiation field was produced in the laboratory, however, the theoretical interpretation of the laboratory spectrum significantly contradicts the generally accepted explanations in x-ray astronomy. This model experiment offers a novel test bed for validation and verification of computational codes used in x-ray astronomy.

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Shinsuke Fujioka, Hideaki Takabe, Norimasa Yamamoto, David Salzmann, Feilu Wang, Hiroaki Nishimura, Yutong Li, Quanli Dong, Shoujun Wang, Yi Zhang, Yong-Joo Rhee, Yong-Woo Lee, Jae-Min Han, Minoru Tanabe, Takashi Fujiwara, Yuto Nakabayashi, Gang Zhao, Jie Zhang, Kunioki Mima. 2009-09-02. X-ray Astronomy in the Laboratory with a Miniature Compact Object Produced by Laser-Driven Implosion. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1402

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