Modeling of Young Stellar Objects through the study of magnetized rear-driven plasma jets from thin foil targets

Plasma jets can be found in astrophysical systems (Accretion disks[1][2], Polars [3] or Young Stellar Objects [4]), but they are also useful as a platform to study plasma properties and transport effects. On a experiment at the PALS facility, we have studied the formation and propagation of rear-driven, collisional plasma jets from different foil thicknesses and materials when subject to an intense external magnetic field.

Magnetic fields were generated using a pair of Helmholtz coils that provide 5-10 T in the direction perpendicular to the jet propagation. The diagnostics used were the streaked optical self-emission as a measurement of jet velocity, and 4-frame interferometry as a measurement of the jet density.

With the right scaling factors, this data can help model the accretion of matter into magnetized astrophysical systems, such as the surface of Young Stellar Objects, as well as the role that instabilities play in this process [4].

[1] G. Revet et al., Science Advances 3, 11 (2017)

[2] Kulkarni, A. K. \& Romanova, M. M. , Monthly Notices RAS 386, (2008)

[3] E. Falize, et al., Astrophysics and Space Science 336, 81 (2011)

[4] Burdonov, K. et al., A\&A 657, A112 (2022)