Modeling the Sedov Taylor Expansion of Core-Collapse Supernova in PERSEUS

Magneto hydrodynamic (MHD) phenomena in astrophysics provide much of our current understanding of core-collapse supernovae remnants. Magnetically mediated spherical shocks, which appear as extremely thin discontinuities in the flow of ejected material, play a major role in these explosions and can be understood using an ideal MHD description. Under proper dimensionless scaling conditions, these astrophysical shocks may be recreated in a laboratory setting using pulsed power generators to create high energy density plasma via fast Z-pinch experiments. In this presentation, a radial foil Z-pinch configuration is simulated using PERSEUS (Plasma as an Extended-MHD Relaxation System using an Efficient Upwind Scheme) to reproduce a shock that has a radius that can be defined by the Sedov-Taylor similarity solution for spherical blast waves. Ion density, Reynolds number, Plasma beta, and Mach number were calculated to ensure shock formation and locate the boundaries of the shock radius. The results of the simulations show the radius of the blast wave to be in agreement with the r ~ t^(2/5) dependence found in the Sedov Taylor Solution.