Laboratory experiments and simulations on jets

TL;DR

This paper reviews laboratory experiments and simulations of magnetized jets, demonstrating their relevance to understanding astrophysical jets and exploring the physics of magnetic tower formations.

Contribution

It presents recent laboratory experiments on millimeter-scale magnetized jets and compares them with 3D-MHD simulations, linking experimental results to astrophysical jet models.

Findings

Laboratory jets can be scaled to astrophysical conditions.

Simulations show effects of thermal losses and rotation on jet stability.

Comparison of Poynting flux dominated and hydrodynamic jets.

Abstract

Astrophysical jets have been studied with observations, theoretical models and numerical simulations for decades. Recently, supersonic magnetized jets have been formed in laboratory experiments of high-energy density plasmas. I will review these studies and discuss the experimental setup that has been used to form millimeter-scale jets driven by strong toroidal magnetic fields in a MAGPIE generator. The physical conditions of these experiments are such that they can be scaled to astrophysical scenarios. These laboratory jets provide insights on the underlying physics of magnetic tower jets and help constrain some models of astrophysical jets. In this context, we also discuss the connection between the laboratory jets and recent 3D-MHD numerical simulations of Poynting flux dominated jets. The simulations allow us to investigate the effects of thermal energy losses and base rotation on the growth rate of kink mode perturbations, and to compare the evolution of PFD jets with a hydrodynamic counterpart of the same energy flux.