Journal article
Laboratory study of stationary accretion shock relevant to astrophysical systems
- Abstract:
- Accretion processes play a crucial role in a wide variety of astrophysical systems. Of particular interest are magnetic cataclysmic variables, where, plasma flow is directed along the star's magnetic field lines onto its poles. A stationary shock is formed, several hundred kilometres above the stellar surface; a distance far too small to be resolved with today's telescopes. Here, we report the results of an analogous laboratory experiment which recreates this astrophysical system. The dynamics of the laboratory system are strongly influenced by the interplay of material, thermal, magnetic and radiative effects, allowing a steady shock to form at a constant distance from a stationary obstacle. Our results demonstrate that a significant amount of plasma is ejected in the lateral direction; a phenomenon that is under-estimated in typical magnetohydrodynamic simulations and often neglected in astrophysical models. This changes the properties of the post-shock region considerably and has important implications for many astrophysical studies.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 2.3MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1038/s41598-019-44596-3
Authors
- Publisher:
- Springer Nature
- Journal:
- Scientific Reports More from this journal
- Volume:
- 9
- Article number:
- 8157
- Publication date:
- 2019-05-31
- Acceptance date:
- 2019-05-17
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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2045-2322
- Pmid:
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31148567
- Language:
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English
- Pubs id:
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pubs:1012654
- UUID:
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uuid:c6111b52-5400-4188-8690-86ed73de6301
- Local pid:
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pubs:1012654
- Source identifiers:
-
1012654
- Deposit date:
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2019-06-22
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Mabey et al
- Copyright date:
- 2019
- Notes:
- © The Author(s) 2019. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. Te images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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