2-D snowplow modeling of gas puff Z-pinches

Summary form only given. The 2-D snowplow model roughly approximates part of the physics of the implosion phase. It can be used to estimate two observables: the onset time of K-shell radiation and the inductive feedback in the circuit current waveform. Here, we use the 2-D snowplow model to investigate the sensitivity of these two observables to variations in the initial state of the implosion phase. Specifically, we examine two real-world configurations: the MPI "shell-on-shell" and "nozzle-in-a-can" systems. The gas distributions for these systems have been measured approximately, and we have also modeled these systems using 2-D gas dynamics models. We examine the effect on our observables of perturbing these estimates for the initial gas distribution.