Supernova Hydrodynamics on the Omega Laser

(B204)The fundamental motivation for our work is that supernovae are not well understood. Recent observations have clarified the depth of our ignorance, by producing observed phenomena that current theory and computer simulations cannot reproduce. Such theories and simulations involve, however, a number of physical mechanisms that have never been studied in isolation. We perform experiments, in compressible hydrodynamics and radiation hydrodynamics, relevant to supernovae and supernova remnants. These experiments produce phenomena in the laboratory that are believed, based on simulations, to be important to astrophysics but that have not been directly observed in either the laboratory or in an astrophysical system. During the period of this grant, we have focused on the scaling of an astrophysically relevant, radiative-precursor shock, on preliminary studies of collapsing radiative shocks, and on the multimode behavior and the three-dimensional, deeply nonlinear evolution of the Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability at a decelerating, embedded interface. These experiments required strong compression and decompression, strong shocks (Mach {approx}10 or greater), flexible geometries, and very smooth laser beams, which means that the 60-beam Omega laser is the only facility capable of carrying out this program