Just reading through the draft summary paper on "Relativistic and Strongly Magnetised Plasmas". This paper is a condensed version of whitepapers written by participants of the May 2007 Laboratory Plasma Astrophysics Working Group (LPAWG) meeting.
The quote below pertains to my standing query about the possibilities of lab simulation/scaling of neutron star plasma environments:
Quote:
Ultrastrong Magnetic Fields:
5.1 Astrophysics Context: Neutron star magnetic fields can exceed 100TG, while white dwarf fields may exceed 100MG. Current ultra-intense lasers are capable of generating transient fields approaching a GigaG, which overlaps with magnetic white dwarfs and accreting neutron stars identified as millisecond pulsars. The study of laboratory plasmas with strong fields in this range may demonstrate for the first time that the conditions appropriate to the atmospheres of these magnetic neutron stars and magnetic white dwarfs can be produced in a terrestrial laboratory.
Measurements of such a plasma may enable the study of highly dynamical phenomena such as the “photon bubble” instability. They may also permit probes of non-linear regimes of the Zeeman effect in hydrogenic atoms, as well as “guiding center drift atoms” where the strong field changes electron orbits into ExB drift orbits. Laboratory insights may spawn new observational diagnostic of neutron stars and magnetic white dwarfs. Theories of anisotropic radiation and particle transport in such objects may be meaningfully tested in the laboratory.
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Looks like it may actually be possible to simulate the plasma environment in a lab. Ie: finally an answer to one of my long standing questions .. this is progress !
Cheers