A novel laboratory experimental design is described that will investigate the processing of dust grains in astrophysical shocks. Dust is a ubiquitous ingredient in the interstellar medium (ISM) of galaxies; however, its evolutionary cycle is still poorly understood. Especially shrouded in mystery is the efficiency of grain destruction by astrophysical shocks generated by expanding supernova remnants. While the evolution of these remnants is fairly well understood, the grain destruction efficiency in these shocks is largely unknown. The experiments described herein will fill this knowledge gap by studying the dust destruction efficiencies for shock velocities in the range ${\sim}10{-}30~\text{km}/\text{s}$ ($\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}/\text{ns}$), at which most of the grain destruction and processing in the ISM takes place. The experiments focus on the study of grain–grain collisions by accelerating small (${\sim}1~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$) dust particles into a large (${\sim}5{-}10~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ diameter) population; this simulates the astrophysical system well in that the more numerous, small grains impact and collide with the large population. Facilities that combine the versatility of high-power optical lasers with the diagnostic capabilities of X-ray free-electron lasers, e.g., the Matter in Extreme Conditions instrument at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, provide an ideal laboratory environment to create and diagnose dust destruction by astrophysically relevant shocks at the micron scale.

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研究天体物理冲击波破坏尘埃实验的概念设计

描述了一种新颖的实验室实验设计，它将研究天体物理冲击中尘埃颗粒的处理。尘埃是星系星际介质（ISM）中普遍存在的成分；然而，它的进化周期仍然知之甚少。特别笼罩在神秘之中的是膨胀的超新星遗迹产生的天体物理冲击对晶粒破坏的效率。虽然这些残余物的演变已被很好地理解，但这些冲击中的谷物破坏效率在很大程度上是未知的。本文描述的实验将通过研究该范围内冲击速度的粉尘破坏效率来填补这一知识空白${\sim}10{-}30~\text{km}/\text{s}$($\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}/\text{ns}$)，ISM 中的大部分谷物破坏和加工都在此发生。实验重点是通过加速研究晶粒-晶粒碰撞小的(${\sim}1~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$) 尘粒成大(${\sim}5{-}10~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$直径）人口；这很好地模拟了天体物理系统，因为数量越多，小的颗粒撞击并与大人口。将高功率光学激光器的多功能性与 X 射线自由电子激光器的诊断能力相结合的设施，例如 SLAC 国家加速器实验室的极端条件下的物质仪器，为创建和诊断粉尘破坏提供了理想的实验室环境通过与天体物理学相关的微米级冲击。