Laboratory Astrophysics

H. Takabe (Institute of Laser Energetics, Osaka University)

I would like to explain a new field of astrophysics with intense and 
ultra-intense lasers.  A famous astrophysicist said that Astrophysics is the 
discipline to understand the physics in Universe with the knowledge validated 
and verified on the earth.  To realize extremely high temperature plasma and 
explosion phenomena with ionization and radiation transport have been difficult
in laboratory; therefore, there was no way to verify the computational modeling
and physics are reliable to describe the physics in Universe.  With three ways 
of viewing astrophysics based on (1) sameness, (2) similarity, (3) resemblance,
we can study each elements of astrophysics in laboratory.  
The space and time dimension is more than 10 orders of magnitude different, 
while the controlling physics is same; for example, radiation hydrodynamics.  
The purpose of the laboratory astrophysics classified to the following three.  
(1) To verify and validate the computational code for astrophysics through 
comparison with the model experiment results.  (2) To find a new physics 
through model experiments, such as integrated physics instabilities.  (3) To 
export mature physics filed up in laser-driven plasma physics to understand 
missing physics in astrophysics.