Nature Communications (Jun 2016)

Laboratory analogue of a supersonic accretion column in a binary star system

  • J. E. Cross,
  • G. Gregori,
  • J. M. Foster,
  • P. Graham,
  • J. -M. Bonnet-Bidaud,
  • C. Busschaert,
  • N. Charpentier,
  • C. N. Danson,
  • H. W. Doyle,
  • R. P. Drake,
  • J. Fyrth,
  • E. T. Gumbrell,
  • M. Koenig,
  • C. Krauland,
  • C. C. Kuranz,
  • B. Loupias,
  • C. Michaut,
  • M. Mouchet,
  • S. Patankar,
  • J. Skidmore,
  • C. Spindloe,
  • E. R. Tubman,
  • N. Woolsey,
  • R. Yurchak,
  • É. Falize

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11899
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 1
pp. 1 – 7

Abstract

Read online

Stationary radiative shocks are expected to form above the surface of highly-magnetized white dwarves in binary systems, but this cannot be resolved by telescopes. Here, the authors report a laboratory experiment showing the evolution of a reverse shock when both ionization and radiative losses are important.