X-ray Astronomy in the Laboratory with a Miniature Compact Object Produced by Laser-Driven Implosion

TL;DR

This study demonstrates laboratory generation of photoionized plasmas using laser-driven implosion, replicating astrophysical X-ray spectra, and provides a new platform for testing astronomical models and computational codes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel laboratory setup to produce and analyze X-ray spectra of photoionized plasmas, bridging experimental physics and astrophysical observations.

Findings

Laboratory spectra resemble those from X-ray binary stars

Produced extreme radiation fields in controlled conditions

Theoretical models contradict existing astronomical explanations

Abstract

Laboratory spectroscopy of non-thermal equilibrium plasmas photoionized by intense radiation is a key to understanding compact objects, such as black holes, based on astronomical observations. This paper describes an experiment to study photoionizing plasmas in laboratory under well-defined and genuine conditions. Photoionized plasma is here generated using a 0.5-keV Planckian x-ray source created by means of a laser-driven implosion. The measured x-ray spectrum from the photoionized silicon plasma resembles those observed from the binary stars Cygnus X-3 and Vela X-1 with the Chandra x-ray satellite. This demonstrates that an extreme radiation field was produced in the laboratory, however, the theoretical interpretation of the laboratory spectrum significantly contradicts the generally accepted explanations in x-ray astronomy. This model experiment offers a novel test bed for validation and verification of computational codes used in x-ray astronomy.