Link between laboratory and astrophysical radiative shocks

Abstract. This work provides analytical solutions describing the post-shock structure of radiative shocks growing in astrophysics and in laboratory. The equations including a cooling function Λ ∝ ρǫP ζxθ are solved for any values of the exponents ǫ, ζ and θ. This modeling is appropriate to astrophysics as the observed radiative shocks arise in optically thin media. In contrast, in laboratory, radiative shocks performed using high-power lasers present a radiative precursor because the plasma is more or less optically thick. We study the post-shock region in the laboratory case and compare with astrophysical shock structure. In addition, we attempt to use the same equations to describe the radiative precursor, but the cooling function is slightly modified. In future experiments we will probe the PSR using X-ray diagnostics. These new experimental results will allow to validate our astrophysical numerical codes. 1