M. Poirier

Radiative properties of stellar plasmas and open challenges

The lifetime of solar-like stars, the envelope structure of more massive stars, and stellar acoustic frequencies largely depend on the radiative properties of the stellar plasma. Up to now, these complex quantities have been estimated only theoretically. The development of the powerful tools of helio- and astero- seismology has made it possible to gain insights on the interiors of stars. Consequently, increased emphasis is now placed on knowledge of the monochromatic opacity coefficients. Here we review how these radiative properties play a role, and where they are most important. We then concentrate specifically on the envelopes of β Cephei variable stars. We discuss the dispersion of eight different theoretical estimates of the monochromatic opacity spectrum and the challenges we need to face to check these calculations experimentally.

A comparison between detailed and configuration-averaged collisional-radiative codes applied to nonlocal thermal equilibrium plasmas

A collisional-radiative model describing nonlocal-thermodynamic-equilibrium plasmas is developed. It is based on the HULLAC (Hebrew University Lawrence Livermore Atomic Code) suite for the transitions rates, in the zero-temperature radiation field hypothesis. Two variants of the model are presented: the first one is configuration averaged, while the second one is a detailed level version. Comparisons are made between them in the case of a carbon plasma; they show that the configuration-averaged code gives correct results for an electronic temperature Te=10 eV (or higher) but fails at lower temperatures such as Te=1 eV. The validity of the configuration-averaged approximation is discussed: the intuitive criterion requiring that the average configuration-energy dispersion must be less than the electron thermal energy turns out to be a necessary but far from sufficient condition. Another condition based on the resolution of a modified rate-equation system is proposed. Its efficiency is emphasized in the case...

Absorption of local thermodynamic equilibrium aluminum at different densities

Abstract Increasing the range of plasma parameters accessible for laboratory absorption coefficients measurements is of interest for astrophysical applications. Aluminum is of special interest as its 1s–2p inner shell absorption transitions permit one to precisely determine the ionization balance that is strongly dependent on the electron temperature. A method to increase the density of the probed sample was tested on aluminum confined by carbon tampers of different thickness (8– 70 μg / cm 2 ). This created a density increase in the aluminum of a factor of ∼10. Measurements showed that the aluminum ionization decreases substantially with increasing carbon thickness. Radiative hydrodynamic simulations showed that density and temperature gradients could not be neglected and had to be taken into account in calculating the absorption structures with the atomic physics code HULLAC. Very good agreement between theory and experiment was obtained by coupling HULLAC with hydrodynamic simulations.

Multi‐Code Ab Initio Calculation of Ionization Distributions and Radiation Losses for Tungsten in Tokamak Plasmas

We present calculations of ionization balance and radiative power losses for tungsten in magnetic fusion plasmas. The simulations were performed within the framework of Non‐Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (NLTE) Code Comparison Workshops utilizing several independent collisional‐radiative models. The calculations generally agree with each other; however, a clear disagreement with experimental ionization distributions at low temperatures 2 keV<Te<3 keV is observed. Comparison is made with other calculations. The obtained results can be used in planning new experiments in magnetic confinement fusion.

X-ray grating spectrometer for opacity measurements in the 50 eV to 250 eV spectral range at the LULI 2000 laser facility

An x-ray grating spectrometer was built in order to measure opacities in the 50 eV to 250 eV spectral range with an average spectral resolution ∼ 50. It has been used at the LULI-2000 laser facility at École Polytechnique (France) to measure the Δn = 0, n = 3 transitions of several elements with neighboring atomic number: Cr, Fe, Ni, and Cu in the same experimental conditions. Hence a spectrometer with a wide spectral range is required. This spectrometer features one line of sight looking through a heated sample at backlighter emission. It is outfitted with one toroidal condensing mirror and several flat mirrors cutting off higher energy photons. The spectral dispersion is obtained with a flatfield grating. Detection consists of a streak camera sensitive to soft x-ray radiation. Some experimental results showing the performance of this spectrometer are presented.

Highly efficient sparse-matrix inversion techniques and average procedures applied to collisional-radiative codes

The behavior of non-local thermal-equilibrium (NLTE) plasmas plays a central role in many fields of modern-day physics, such as laser-produced plasmas, astrophysics, inertial or magnetic confinement fusion devices, or X-ray sources. The proper description of these media in stationary cases requires to solve linear systems of thousands or more rate equations. A possible simplification for this arduous numerical task may lie in some type of statistical average, such as configuration or superconfiguration average. However to assess the validity of this procedure and to handle cases where isolated lines play an important role, it may be important to deal with detailed levels systems. This involves matrices with sometimes billions of elements, which are rather sparse but still involve thousands of diagonals. We propose here a numerical algorithm based on the LU decomposition for such linear systems. This method turns out to be orders of magnitude faster than the traditional Gauss elimination. And at variance with alternate methods based on conjugate gradients or minimization, no convergence or accuracy issues have been faced. Some examples are discussed in connection with the krypton and tungsten cases discussed at the last NLTE meeting. Furthermore, to assess the validity of configuration average, several criteria are discussed. While a criterion based on detailed balance is relevant in cases not too far from LTE but insufficient otherwise, an alternate criterion based on the use of a fictive configuration temperature is proposed and successfully tested. It appears that detailed calculations are sometimes necessary, which supports the search for an efficient solver as the one proposed here.

Measurement of XUV-absorption spectra of ZnS radiatively heated foils

Time-resolved absorption of zinc sulfide (ZnS) and aluminum in the XUV-range has been measured. Thin foils in conditions close to local thermodynamic equilibrium were heated by radiation from laser-irradiated gold spherical cavities. Analysis of the aluminum foil radiative hydrodynamic expansion, based on the detailed atomic calculations of its absorption spectra, showed that the cavity emitted flux that heated the absorption foils corresponds to a radiation temperature in the range 55 60 eV. Comparison of the ZnS absorption spectra with calculations based on a superconfiguration approach identified the presence of species Zn6+ - Zn8+ and S5+ - S6+. Based on the validation of the radiative source simulations, experimental spectra were then compared to calculations performed by post-processing the radiative hydrodynamic simulations of ZnS. Satisfying agreement is found when temperature gradients are accounted for.