Laboratory X-ray Studies for Unraveling High-Resolution Celestial Spectra

The diagnostic utility of the high resolution instruments flown on Chandra, XMM-Newton, and Suzaku is directly coupled to, and often limited by, our understanding of the atomic physics governing the X-ray emission. Hence, high accuracy, systematic laboratory measurements of X-ray emission from highly charged ions provide the necessary basis for interpreting spectra measured by X-ray observatories. Over the past two decades, electron beam ion traps have been used in laboratory astrophysics experiments to study X-ray emission from highly charged ions. These data provide reliable benchmarks of theoretical calculations and have addressed specific problems facing the X-ray astrophysics community, and will prove invaluable when interpreting the spectra measured using the SXS on Astro-H. Results focussed on addressing the Fe XVII problem and measuring the rest wavelengths of Kα transitions in L-shell ions of silicon are summarized.