Predictive design of REHEDS experiments with radiation-hydrodynamic simulations requires knowledge of material properties (e.g. equations of state (EOS), transport coefficients, and radiation physics). Interpreting experimental results requires accurate models of diagnostic observables (e.g. detailed emission, absorption, and scattering spectra). In conditions of Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (LTE), these material properties and observables can be pre-computed with relatively high accuracy and subsequently tabulated on simple temperature-density grids for fast look-up by simulations. When radiation and electron temperatures fall out of equilibrium, however, non-LTE effects can profoundly change material properties and diagnostic signatures. Accurately and efficiently incorporating these non-LTE effects has been a longstanding challenge for simulations. At present, most simulations include non-LTE effects by invoking highly simplified inline models. These inline non-LTE models are both much slower than table look-up and significantly less accurate than the detailed models used to populate LTE tables and diagnose experimental data through post-processing or inversion. Because inline non-LTE models are slow, designers avoid them whenever possible, which leads to known inaccuracies from using tabular LTE. Because inline models are simple, they are inconsistent with tabular data from detailed models, leading to ill-known inaccuracies, and they cannot generate detailed synthetic diagnostics suitable for direct comparisons with experimental data. This project addresses the challenge of generating and utilizing efficient, accurate, and consistent non-equilibrium material data along three complementary but relatively independent research lines. First, we have developed a relatively fast and accurate non-LTE average-atom model based on density functional theory (DFT) that provides a complete set of EOS, transport, and radiative data, and have rigorously tested it against more sophisticated first-principles multi-atom DFT models, including time-dependent DFT. Next, we have developed a tabular scheme and interpolation methods that compactly capture non-LTE effects for use in simulations and have implemented these tables in the GORGON magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) code. Finally, we have developed post-processing tools that use detailed tabulated non-LTE data to directly predict experimental observables from simulation output.
White dwarfs (WDs) are useful across a wide range of astrophysical contexts. The appropriate interpretation of their spectra relies on the accuracy of WD atmosphere models. One essential ingredient of atmosphere models is the theory used for the broadening of spectral lines. To date, the models have relied on Vidal et al., known as the unified theory of line broadening (VCS). There have since been advancements in the theory; however, the calculations used in model atmosphere codes have only received minor updates. Meanwhile, advances in instrumentation and data have uncovered indications of inaccuracies: spectroscopic temperatures are roughly 10% higher and spectroscopic masses are roughly 0.1 M higher than their photometric counterparts. The evidence suggests that VCS-based treatments of line profiles may be at least partly responsible. Gomez et al. developed a simulation-based line-profile code Xenomorph using an improved theoretical treatment that can be used to inform questions around the discrepancy. However, the code required revisions to sufficiently decrease noise for use in model spectra and to make it computationally tractable and physically realistic. In particular, we investigate three additional physical effects that are not captured in the VCS calculations: ion dynamics, higher-order multipole expansion, and an expanded basis set. We also implement a simulation-based approach to occupation probability. The present study limits the scope to the first three hydrogen Balmer transitions (Hα, Hβ, and Hγ). We find that screening effects and occupation probability have the largest effects on the line shapes and will likely have important consequences in stellar synthetic spectra.
For isolated white dwarf (WD) stars, fits to their observed spectra provide the most precise estimates of their effective temperatures and surface gravities. Even so, recent studies have shown that systematic offsets exist between such spectroscopic parameter determinations and those based on broadband photometry. These large discrepancies (10% in Teff, 0.1 M⊙ in mass) provide scientific motivation for reconsidering the atomic physics employed in the model atmospheres of these stars. Recent simulation work of ours suggests that the most important remaining uncertainties in simulation-based calculations of line shapes are the treatment of 1) the electric field distribution and 2) the occupation probability (OP) prescription. We review the work that has been done in these areas and outline possible avenues for progress.
The spectroscopic method relies on hydrogen Balmer absorption lines to infer white dwarf (WD) masses. These masses depend on the choice of atmosphere model, hydrogen atomic line shape calculation, and which Balmer series members are included in the spectral fit. In addition to those variables, spectroscopic masses disagree with those derived using other methods. Here we present laboratory experiments aimed at investigating the main component of the spectroscopic method: hydrogen line shape calculations. These experiments use X-rays from Sandia National Laboratories' Z-machine to create a uniform ∼15 cm3 hydrogen plasma and a ∼4 eV backlighter that enables recording high-quality absorption spectra. The large plasma, volumetric X-ray heating that fosters plasma uniformity, and the ability to collect absorption spectra at WD photosphere conditions are improvements over past laboratory experiments. Analysis of the experimental absorption spectra reveals that electron density (ne ) values derived from the Hγ line are ∼34% ± 7.3% lower than from Hβ. Two potential systematic errors that may contribute to this difference were investigated. A detailed evaluation of self-emission and plasma gradients shows that these phenomena are unlikely to produce any measurable Hβ-Hγ ne difference. WD masses inferred with the spectroscopic method are proportional to the photosphere density. Hence, the measured Hβ-Hγ n rm e difference is qualitatively consistent with the trend that WD masses inferred from their Hβ line are higher than that resulting from the analysis of Hβ and Hγ. This evidence may suggest that current hydrogen line shape calculations are not sufficiently accurate to capture the intricacies of the Balmer series.
We spectroscopically measure multiple hydrogen Balmer line profiles from laboratory plasmas to investigate the theoretical line profiles used in white dwarf (WD) atmosphere models. X-ray radiation produced at the Z Pulsed Power Facility at Sandia National Laboratories initiates plasma formation in a hydrogen-filled gas cell, replicating WD photospheric conditions. Here we present time-resolved measurements of Hβ and fit this line using different theoretical line profiles to diagnose electron density, ne, and n = 2 level population, n2. Aided by synthetic tests, we characterize the validity of our diagnostic method for this experimental platform. During a single experiment, we infer a continuous range of electron densities increasing from ne ∼ 4 to ∼30 × 1016 cm-3 throughout a 120-ns evolution of our plasma. Also, we observe n2 to be initially elevated with respect to local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE); it then equilibrates within ∼55 ns to become consistent with LTE. This supports our electron-temperature determination of Te ∼ 1.3 eV (∼15,000 K) after this time. At ne 1017 cm-3, we find that computer-simulation-based line-profile calculations provide better fits (lower reduced χ2) than the line profiles currently used in the WD astronomy community. The inferred conditions, however, are in good quantitative agreement. This work establishes an experimental foundation for the future investigation of relative shapes and strengths between different hydrogen Balmer lines.