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At least 19 records

A direct measurement of the forward shock speed in supernova remnant 0509–67.5: Constraints on the age, ambient density, shock compression factor, and electron–ion temperature equilibration

Two Hubble Space Telescope narrow-band Hα images separated in time by 1.03 years are used for a proper motion measurement of the forward shock of the LMC supernova remnant 0509–67.5, the only spectroscopically confirmed LMC remnant of Ia origin. We measure a global shock speed of 6500 ± 200 km s{sup −1} and constrain the pre-shock neutral hydrogen density to be 0.084 ± 0.003 cm{sup −3}, for a typical mean number of Hα photons produced per neutral hydrogen atom entering the forward shock. Previously published broad Hα line widths from two locations on the rim and our corresponding shock speed measurements are consistent with Balmer shock models that do not include effects of cosmic-ray acceleration. For the northeastern rim location, we limit the post-shock electron temperature to 10% of the proton temperature by also using the broad-to-narrow flux ratio. Hydrodynamic simulations for different initial ejecta density profiles constrain the age and ambient medium density; for an exponential ejecta profile and initial explosion energy of 1.4 × 10{sup 51} erg, the remnant’s age is 310{sub −30}{sup +40} years. For all evolutionary models explored, the expansion parameter falls in the range of 0.41–0.73, indicating that the remnant is still firmly in the ejecta-dominated phase of its evolution. Our measured neutral hydrogen density of the ambient medium, combined with the shocked density obtained in Williams et al., disfavors forward shock compression factors greater than ∼7.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

THE ROLE OF CROSS-SHOCK POTENTIAL ON PICKUP ION SHOCK ACCELERATION IN THE FRAMEWORK OF FOCUSED TRANSPORT THEORY

The focused transport theory is appropriate to describe the injection and acceleration of low-energy particles at shocks as an extension of diffusive shock acceleration (DSA). In this investigation, we aim to characterize the role of cross-shock potential (CSP) originated in the charge separation across the shock ramp on pickup ion (PUI) acceleration at various types of shocks with a focused transport model. The simulation results of energy spectrum and spatial density distribution for the cases with and without CSP added in the model are compared. With sufficient acceleration time, the focused transport acceleration finally falls into the DSA regime with the power-law spectral index equal to the solution of the DSA theory. The CSP can affect the shape of the spectrum segment at lower energies, but it does not change the spectral index of the final power-law spectrum at high energies. It is found that the CSP controls the injection efficiency which is the fraction of PUIs reaching the DSA regime. A stronger CSP jump results in a dramatically improved injection efficiency. Our simulation results also show that the injection efficiency of PUIs is mass-dependent, which is lower for species with a higher mass. In addition, the CSP is able to enhance the particle reflection upstream to produce a stronger intensity spike at the shock front. We conclude that the CSP is a non-negligible factor that affects the dynamics of PUIs at shocks.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Spherical strong-shock generation for shock-ignition inertial fusion

Recent experiments on the Laboratory for Laser Energetics' OMEGA laser have been carried out to produce strong shocks in solid spherical targets with direct laser illumination. The shocks are launched at pressures of several hundred Mbars and reach Gbar upon convergence. The results are relevant to the validation of the shock-ignition scheme and to the development of an OMEGA experimental platform to study material properties at Gbar pressures. The experiments investigate the strength of the ablation pressure and the hot-electron production at incident laser intensities of ∼2 to 6 × 10{sup 15 }W/cm{sup 2} and demonstrate ablation pressures exceeding 300 Mbar, which is crucial to developing a shock-ignition target design for the National Ignition Facility. The timing of the x-ray flash from shock convergence in the center of the solid plastic target is used to infer the ablation and shock pressures. Laser–plasma instabilities produce hot-electrons with a moderate temperature (<100 keV). The instantaneous conversion efficiencies of laser power into hot-electron power reached up to ∼15% in the intensity spike. The large amount of hot electrons is correlated with an earlier x-ray flash and a strong increase in its magnitude. This suggests that hot electrons contribute to the augmentation of the shock strength.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

High‐pressure phases in shock‐induced melt of the unique highly shocked LL 6 chondrite Northwest Africa 757

Abstract Northwest Africa 757 is unique in the LL chondrite group because of its abundant shock‐induced melt and high‐pressure minerals. Olivine fragments entrained in the melt transform partially and completely into ringwoodite. Plagioclase and Ca‐phosphate transform to maskelynite, lingunite, and tuite. Two distinct shock‐melt crystallization assemblages were studied by FIB ‐ TEM analysis. The first melt assemblage, which includes majoritic garnet, ringwoodite plus magnetite‐magnesiowüstite, crystallized at pressures of 20–25 GP a. The other melt assemblage, which consists of clinopyroxene and wadsleyite, solidified at ~15 GP a, suggesting a second veining event under lower pressure conditions. These shock features are similar to those in S6 L chondrites and indicate that NWA 757 experienced an intense impact event, comparable to the impact event that disrupted the L chondrite parent body at 470 Ma.

Hu, Jinping↗

Thermal transport in shock wave–compressed solids using pulsed laser heating

A pulsed laser heating method was developed for determining thermal transport properties of solids under shock-wave compression. While the solid is compressed, a laser deposits a known amount of heat onto the sample surface, which is held in the shocked state by a transparent window. The heat from the laser briefly elevates the surface temperature and then diffuses into the interior via one-dimensional heat conduction. The thermal effusivity is determined from the time history of the resulting surface temperature pulse, which is recorded with optical pyrometry. Thermal effusivity is the square root of the product of thermal conductivity and volumetric heat capacity and is the key thermal transport parameter for relating the surface temperature to the interior temperature of the sample in a dynamic compression experiment. Therefore, this method provides information that is needed to determine the thermodynamic state of the interior of a compressed metal sample from a temperature measurement at the surface. The laser heat method was successfully demonstrated on tin that was shock compressed with explosives to a stress and temperature of ∼25 GPa and ∼1300 K. In this state, tin was observed to have a thermal effusivity of close to twice its ambient value. The implications on determining the interior shock wave temperature of tin are discussed.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Shock Deformation in Zircon, a Comparison of Results from Shock-Reverberation and Single-Shock Experiments

The utility of the mineral zircon, ZrSiO4, as a shock-metamorphic geobarometer and geochronometer, has been steadily growing within the planetary science community. Zircon is an accessory phase found in many terrestrial rock types, lunar samples, lunar meteorites, martian meteorites and various other achondrites. Because zircon is refractory and has a high closure temperature for Pb diffusion, it has been used to determine the ages of some of the oldest material on Earth and elsewhere in the Solar System. Furthermore, major (O) and trace-element (REE, Ti, Hf) abundances and isotope compositions of zircon help characterize the petrogenetic environments and sources from which they crystallized. The response of zircon to impact-induced shock deformation is predominantly crystallographic, including dislocation creep and the formation of planar and sub-planar, low-angle grain boundaries; the formation of mechanical {112} twins; transformation to the high pressure polymorph reidite; the development of polycrystalline microtextures; and dissociation to the oxide constituents SiO2 and ZrO2. Shock microstructures can also variably affect the U- Pb isotope systematics of zircon and, in some instances, be used to constrain the impact age. While numerous studies have characterized shock deformation in zircon recovered from a variety of terrestrial impact craters and ejecta deposits and Apollo samples, experimental studies of shock deformation in zircon are limited to a handful of examples in the literature. In addition, the formation conditions (e.g., P, T) of various shock microstructures, such as planar-deformation bands, twins, and reidite lamellae, remain poorly con-strained. Furthermore, previous shocked-zircon experimental charges have not been analyzed using modern analytical equipment. This study will therefore under-take an new set of zircon shock experiments, which will then be microstructurally characterized using state-of-the-art instrumentation within the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division (ARES), NASA Johnson Space Center.

Erickon, T. M.↗

Collisionless shock experiments with lasers and observation of Weibel instabilities

Astrophysical collisionless shocks are common in the universe, occurring in supernova remnants, gamma ray bursts, and protostellar jets. They appear in colliding plasma flows when the mean free path for ion-ion collisions is much larger than the system size. It is believed that such shocks could be mediated via the electromagnetic Weibel instability in astrophysical environments without pre-existing magnetic fields. Here, we present laboratory experiments using high-power lasers and investigate the dynamics of high-Mach-number collisionless shock formation in two interpenetrating plasma streams. Our recent proton-probe experiments on Omega show the characteristic filamentary structures of the Weibel instability that are electromagnetic in nature with an inferred magnetization level as high as ∼1% [C. M. Huntington et al., “Observation of magnetic field generation via the weibel instability in interpenetrating plasma flows,” Nat. Phys. 11, 173–176 (2015)]. These results imply that electromagnetic instabilities are significant in the interaction of astrophysical conditions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Impact-shocked zircons: Discovery of shock-induced textures reflecting increasing degrees of shock metamorphism

Textural effects specifically characteristic of shock metamorphism in zircons from impact environments have not been reported previously. However, planar deformation features (PDF) due to shock metamorphism are well documented in quartz and other mineral grains from these same environments. An etching technique was developed that allows scanning electron microscope (SEM) visualization of PDF and other probable shock-induced textural features, such as granular (polycrystalline) texture, in zircons from a variety of impact shock environments. These textural features in shocked zircons from K/T boundary distal ejecta form a series related to increasing degrees of shock that should correlate with proportionate resetting of the U-Pb isotopic system.

Bohor, B. F.↗

Shock, Post-Shock Annealing, and Post-Annealing Shock in Ureilites

The thermal and shock histories of ureilites can be divided into four periods: 1) formation, 2) initial shock, 3) post-shock annealing, and 4) post-annealing shock. Period 1 occurred approx.4.55 Ga ago when ureilites formed by melting chondritic material. Impact events during period 2 caused silicate darkening, undulose to mosaic extinction in olivines, and the formation of diamond, lonsdaleite, and chaoite from indigenous carbonaceous material. Alkali-rich fine-grained silicates may have been introduced by impact injection into ureilites during this period. About 57% of the ureilites were unchanged after period 2. During period 3 events, impact-induced annealing caused previously mosaicized olivine grains to become aggregates of small unstrained crystals. Some ureilites experienced reduction as FeO at the edges of olivine grains reacted with C from the matrix. Annealing may also be responsible for coarsening of graphite in a few ureilites, forming euhedral-appearing, idioblastic crystals. Orthopyroxene in Meteorite Hills (MET) 78008 may have formed from pigeonite by annealing during this period. The Rb-Sr internal isochron age of approx.4.0 Ga for MET 78008 probably dates the annealing event. At this late date, impacts are the only viable heat source. About 36% of ureilites experienced period 3 events, but remained unchanged afterwards. During period 4, approx.7% of the ureilites were shocked again, as is evident in the polymict breccia, Elephant Moraine (EET) 83309. This rock contains annealed mosaicized olivine aggregates composed of small individual olivine crystals that exhibit undulose extinction. Ureilites may have formed by impact-melting chondritic material on a primitive body with heterogeneous O isotopes. Plagioclase was preferentially lost from the system due to its low impedance to shock compression. Brief melting and rapid burial minimized the escape of planetary-type noble gases from the ureilitic melts. Incomplete separation of metal from silicates during impact melting left ureilites with relatively high concentrations of trace siderophile elements.

Rubin, Alan E.↗

Diffusive shock acceleration - Comparison of a unified shock model to bow shock observations

A comparison is made between recent AMPTE/IRM observations of diffuse ions detected upstream of the earth's bow shock when the interplanetary magnetic field was nearly parallel to the solar wind direction and a known collisionless quasi-parallel shock model. These observations, which provide the proton spectrum for all of velocity space, give a direct measure of the shock acceleration efficiency and show how thermal solar winds are injected into the diffusive shock acceleration mechanism. The model accurately describes the proton spectrum; moreover, it predicts the shock structure, the complete particle spectrum, the relative velocity distributions of different ion species in the down stream region, and the enhancement of heavy ions over protons relative to the unshocked solar wind.

Ellison, Donald C.↗

Identifying and discriminating phase transitions along decaying shocks with line imaging Doppler interferometric velocimetry and streaked optical pyrometry [Identify phase transition along decaying shocks with line imaging VISAR and streaked optical pyrometry]

Ultrafast line-imaging velocity interferometer system for any reflector and streaked optical pyrometry are now commonly used to obtain high precision equation of state and electronic transport data under dynamic compression at major high energy density science facilities. In this work, we describe a simple way to improve distinguishing phase transformation signatures from other signals when monitoring decaying shock waves. The line-imaging capability of these optical diagnostics offers additional supporting evidence to the assignment of particular anomalies—such as plateaus or reversals—to the occurrence of a phase transition along the Hugoniot. Finally, we illustrate the discussion with two example datasets collected during laser driven shock compression of quartz and stishovite.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Exploring Mbar shock conditions and isochorically heated aluminum at the MEC end station of the LCLS

Recent experiments performed at the Matter in Extreme Conditions end station (MEC) of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) have demonstrated the first spectrally resolved measurements of plasmons from isochorically heated aluminum. The experiments have been performed using a seeded 8-keV x-ray laser beam as a pump and probe to both volumetrically heat and scatter x-rays from aluminum. Collective x-ray Thomson scattering spectra show a well-resolved plasmon feature that is down-shifted in energy by 19 eV. In addition, Mbar shock pressures from laser-compressed aluminum foils using Velocity Interferometer System for Any Reflector (VISAR) have been measured. The combination of experiments fully demonstrates the possibility to perform warm dense matter studies at the LCLS with unprecedented accuracy and precision.

INST, MATSCI, PHYS, XFEL↗

Liebermannite, KAlSi3 O8 , a new shock-metamorphic, high-pressure mineral from the Zagami Martian meteorite

© The Meteoritical Society, 2017. In this paper, we discuss the occurrence of liebermannite (IMA 2013-128), KAlSi3O8, a new, shock-generated, high-pressure tetragonal hollandite-type structure silicate mineral, in the Zagami basaltic shergottite meteorite. Liebermannite crystallizes in space group I4/m with Z = 2, cell dimensions of a = 9.15 ± 0.14 (1σ) Å, c = 2.74 ± 0.13 Å, and a cell volume of 229 ± 19 Å3 (for the type material), as revealed by synchrotron diffraction. In Zagami, liebermannite likely formed via solid-state transformation of primary igneous K-feldspar during an impact event that achieved pressures of ~20 GPa or more. The mineral name is in honor of Robert C. Liebermann, a high-pressure mineral physicist at Stony Brook University, New York, USA.

Ma, Chi↗

ELECTRON ACCELERATION AT A CORONAL SHOCK PROPAGATING THROUGH A LARGE-SCALE STREAMER-LIKE MAGNETIC FIELD

Using a test-particle simulation, we investigate the effect of large-scale coronal magnetic fields on electron acceleration at an outward-propagating coronal shock with a circular front. The coronal field is approximated by an analytical solution with a streamer-like magnetic field featuring a partially open magnetic field and a current sheet at the equator atop the closed region. We show that the large-scale shock-field configuration, especially the relative curvature of the shock and the magnetic field line across which the shock is sweeping, plays an important role in the efficiency of electron acceleration. At low shock altitudes, when the shock curvature is larger than that of the magnetic field lines, the electrons are mainly accelerated at the shock flanks; at higher altitudes, when the shock curvature is smaller, the electrons are mainly accelerated at the shock nose around the top of closed field lines. The above process reveals the shift of the efficient electron acceleration region along the shock front during its propagation. We also find that, in general, the electron acceleration at the shock flank is not as efficient as that at the top of the closed field because a collapsing magnetic trap can be formed at the top. In addition, we find that the energy spectra of electrons are power-law-like, first hardening then softening with the spectral index varying in a range of −3 to −6. Physical interpretations of the results and implications for the study of solar radio bursts are discussed.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗