Absorption and emission spectroscopy revealing astrophysical plasma properties in at-parameter laboratory experimental simulations

The Z-pinch generator at Sandia National Laboratories provides a near-thermal, MJ-class x-ray source that emits at a power up to 0.3 PW with which to precisely benchmark models of high-resolution absorption and emission atomic spectra at the natural values of dimensional parameters associated with the stellar interior (opacity of iron), the white dwarf photosphere (H-Balmer line shape), the active galactic nucleus (photoionization cross-section), and the black-hole accretion disk (resonant Auger destruction efficiency). Multiple experimental samples that span volumes up to 100 cm3 are uniformly radiatively heated to achieve conditions that span temperatures from 1-200 e V, and electron densities from 1E16 cm-3 to 1E23 cm-3 are diagnosed in a single shot. The Z Astrophysical Plasma Properties (ZAPP) collaboration includes four national laboratories (SNL, LANL, LLNL, and CEA) and four universities (UT-Austin, UN-Reno, Ohio State, and WVU). We present the challenges, opportunities, and initial results from ZAPP experiments on Z, with a focus on understanding the importance of the resonant Auger destruction process in spectral line formation predicted in an x-ray black-hole binary system for improving the physical picture of black-hole accretion-disk structure. Support from DOE-SC-FES is gratefully acknowledged.