Related papers: Metal-Absorption Column Densities in Fast Radiativ…
We present detailed analyses of oxygen K absorption in the interstellar medium (ISM) using four high-resolution Chandra spectra towards the X-ray low-mass binary XTE J1817-330. The 11-25 A broadband is described with a simple absorption…
Collisionless shocks heat electrons in the solar wind, interstellar blast waves, and hot gas permeating galaxy clusters. How much shock heating goes to electrons instead of ions, and what plasma physics controls electron heating? We…
We present an observational and theoretical study of the ionization fraction in several massive cores located in regions that are currently forming stellar clusters. Maps of the emission from the J = 1-> O transitions of C18O, DCO+, N2H+,…
The addition of metals to any gas can significantly alter its evolution by increasing the rate of radiative cooling. In star-forming environments, enhanced cooling can potentially lead to fragmentation and the formation of low-mass stars,…
Many fast supernova remnant shocks show spectra dominated by Balmer lines. The H$\alpha$ profiles have a narrow component explained by direct excitations and a thermally Doppler broadened component due to atoms that undergo charge exchange…
Laser-driven collisonless electrostatic shock formation and the subsequent ion acceleration have been studied in near critical density plasmas. Particle-in-cell simulations show that both the speed of laser-driven collisionless…
We use path integral Monte Carlo and density functional molecular dynamics to construct a coherent set of equation of state for a series of hydrocarbon materials with various C:H ratios (2:1, 1:1, 2:3, 1:2, and 1:4) over the range of…
We have investigated cold ionizing heteronuclear collisions in dilute mixtures of metastable (2 3S1) 3He and 4He atoms, extending our previous work on the analogous homonuclear collisions [R. J. W. Stas et al., PRA 73, 032713 (2006)]. A…
High Mach number collisionless shocks are found in planetary systems and supernova remnants (SNRs). Electrons are heated at these shocks to the temperature well above the Rankine-Hugoniot prediction. However processes responsible for…
We detail experimental results inferring ionization and temperature for warm dense copper plasmas at several times solid density (15 to 25 g/cm$^3$) and temperatures of 10 to 21 eV. Experiments performed at the OMEGA Laser Facility generate…
Emission and absorption lines from elements heavier than helium (metals) represent one of our strongest probes of galaxy formation physics across nearly all redshifts accessible to observations. The vast majority of simulations that model…
Recent observations show that the measured rates of star formation in the early universe are insufficient to produce re-ionization, and therefore, another source of ionizing photons is required. In this \emph{Letter}, we examine the…
We use 2D and 3D hybrid (kinetic ions - fluid electrons) simulations to investigate particle acceleration and magnetic field amplification at non-relativistic astrophysical shocks. We show that diffusive shock acceleration operates for…
Collisionless shocks play a role in many astrophysical phenomena, from coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the heliosphere to supernova remnants. Their role in heating and accelerating particles is well accepted yet the exact mechanism for ion…
Non-equilibrium ionization (NEI) is essentially required for astrophysical plasma diagnostics once the plasma status departs from ionization equilibrium assumptions. In this work, we perform fast NEI calculations combined with…
Radiative turbulent mixing layers should be ubiquitous in multi-phase gas with shear flow. They are a potentially attractive explanation for the high ions such as OVI seen in high velocity clouds and the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of…
We perform a two-dimensional simulation by using an electromagnetic hybrid code to study the formation of slow-mode shocks in collisionless magnetic reconnection in low beta plasmas, and we focus on the relation between the formation of…
We propose a new model for explaining the observations of more than mass proportional heating of heavy ions in the polar solar corona. We point out that a large number of small scale intermittent shock waves can be present in the solar…
Low Mach number collisionless shocks are routinely observed in the solar wind and upstream of planetary bodies. However, most in situ observations have lacked the necessary temporal resolution to directly study the kinetic behavior of ions…
We present measurements of carbon, oxygen, silicon, and iron in quasar absorption systems existing when the universe was roughly one billion years old. We measure column densities in nine low-ionization systems at 4.7 < z < 6.3 using Keck,…