Table 1 Scaling between the laboratory system and a typical intermediate polar.

From: Laboratory study of stationary accretion shock relevant to astrophysical systems

Parameter

Lab

Astro

Plasma βram

1

\(\lesssim 1\)

Magnetic Reynolds number, Rm

10

≫ 1

Fluid Reynolds number, R

105

106

Mach number, M

2

>10

Cooling time, tcool

3–4 ns

~1 s

Cooling parameter, χ

0.5

≪1

Shock standoff distance, hs,

0.8 ± 0.1 mm

~1000 km

  1. The cooling parameter is defined as the ratio of the cooling time to the characteristic hydrodynamical timescale χ = tcool/thyd and is a measure of the importance of radiative effects. Values for the astrophysical system are taken from13,27.
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