Laser Cosmology & Astrophysics

• Theoretical and Experimental Astrophysics
• Cosmology of Consciousness
• Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics
• Physical Cosmology and Cosmic Inflation
• Astrophysics of Cosmic Rays
• Computational Fluid Dynamics in Astrophysics
• Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics
• String theory and Cosmology
• Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Laboratory experiments using high-intensity lasers can calibrate astrophysical observations, investigate underlying dynamics of astrophysical phenomena, and probe fundamental physics in extreme limits.

Aspects of Laser Cosmology

1. Calibration of cosmic observations
Most astrophysical observations rely on photons induced from atomic or molecular spectra, synchrotron radiation, Compton scattering, fluorescence, electron-positron pair creation , plasma oscillations, etc.

Detailed calibrations of those within the laboratory are instrumental in validating the astrophysical observations. Novel observational techniques also can be qualified in the laboratory setting.

2. Validation of astrophysical dynamics
The value of this line of efforts lies in the revelation of the dynamic underpinnings in the cosmos. Most astrophysical conditions are difficult to recreate in the laboratory setting. Luckily many astrophysical processes involve plasmas or magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD). which are in general scalable. Good examples are hydrodynamic jets, turbulences, shocks, instabilities, etc.

Through the controlled experiments in laboratories and the interplay with computer simulations, the plasma or MHD dynamics can be extended to the astrophysical scales and outside the range of the lab setting.

3. Investigation of fundamental cosmic physics

It deals with physical problems whose foundations have not yet been established. More importantly, a number of these issues, though extremely fundamental and essential to cosmology, are impossible to watch in the cosmos.

Astrophysics: It is a branch of space science that applies the laws of physics and chemistry to explain the birth, life, and death of stars, planets, galaxies, nebulae, and other objects in the universe. It has two sibling sciences, astronomy and cosmology, and therefore the lines between them blur.