Scaled laboratory experiments explain the kink behaviour of the Crab Nebula jet

Journal article

The remarkable discovery by the Chandra X-ray observatory that the Crab nebula's jet periodically changes direction provides a challenge to our understanding of astrophysical jet dynamics. It has been suggested that this phenomenon may be the consequence of magnetic fields and magnetohydrodynamic instabilities, but experimental demonstration in a controlled laboratory environment has remained elusive. Here we report experiments that use high-power lasers to create a plasma jet that can be directly compared with the Crab jet through well-defined physical scaling laws. The jet generates its own embedded toroidal magnetic fields; as it moves, plasma instabilities result in multiple deflections of the propagation direction, mimicking the kink behaviour of the Crab jet. The experiment is modelled with three-dimensional numerical simulations that show exactly how the instability develops and results in changes of direction of the jet.

Authors: Li, C; Tzeferacos, P; Lamb, D; Gregori, G; Norreys, P

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Publication date: 2016-10-07
• Acceptance date: 2016-08-31
• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13081
• ISSN: 2041-1723
• Keywords: Laser-produced plasmas; Astrophysical plasmas