scholarly journals Radiation reaction as an energy enhancement mechanism for laser-irradiated electrons in a strong plasma magnetic field

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Gong ◽  
F. Mackenroth ◽  
X. Q. Yan ◽  
A. V. Arefiev

AbstractConventionally, friction is understood as a mechanism depleting a physical system of energy and as an unavoidable feature of any realistic device involving moving parts. In this work, we demonstrate that this intuitive picture loses validity in nonlinear quantum electrodynamics, exemplified in a scenario where spatially random friction counter-intuitively results in a highly directional energy flow. This peculiar behavior is caused by radiation friction, i.e., the energy loss of an accelerated charge due to the emission of radiation. We demonstrate analytically and numerically how radiation friction can dramatically enhance the energy gain by electrons from a laser pulse in a strong magnetic field that naturally arises in dense laser-irradiated plasma. We find the directional energy boost to be due to the transverse electron momentum being reduced through friction whence the driving laser can accelerate the electron more efficiently. In the considered example, the energy of the laser-accelerated electrons is enhanced by orders of magnitude, which then leads to highly directional emission of gamma-rays induced by the plasma magnetic field.

2021 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoltán Tulipánt

AbstractThe Abraham–Lorentz–Dirac theory predicts vanishing radiation reaction for uniformly accelerated charges. However, since an accelerating observer should detect thermal radiation, the charge should be seen absorbing photons in the accelerated frame which, if nothing else occurs, would influence its motion. This means that either there is radiation reaction seen in an inertial frame or there should be an additional phenomenon seen in the accelerated frame countering the effect of absorption. In this paper I rederive the Abraham–Lorentz–Dirac force from quantum electrodynamics, then I study the case of a uniformly accelerated charge. I show that in the accelerated frame, in addition to the absorption of photons due to the Unruh effect there should also be stimulated emission. The net effect of these phenomena on the motion of the charge is found to be zero.


In a previous paper the absorption of γ-rays in the K-X-ray levels of the atom in which they are emitted was calculated according to the Quantum Mechanics, supposing the γ-rays to be emitted from a doublet of moment f ( t ) at the centre of the atom. The non-relativity wave equation derived from the relativity wave equation for an electron of charge — ε moving in an electro-magnetic field of vector potential K and scalar potential V is h 2 ∇ 2 ϕ + 2μ ( ih ∂/∂ t + εV + ih ε/μ c (K. grad)) ϕ = 0. (1) Suppose, however, that K involves the space co-ordinates. Then, (K. grad) ϕ ≠ (grad . K) ϕ , and the expression (K . grad) ϕ is not Hermitic. Equation (1) cannot therefore be the correct non-relativity wave equation for a single electron in an electron agnetic field, and we must substitute h 2 ∇ 2 ϕ + 2μ ( ih ∂/∂ t + εV) ϕ + ih ε/ c ((K. grad) ϕ + (grad. K) ϕ ) = 0. (2)


1992 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. 51-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y.J. DING ◽  
A.E. KAPLAN

The photon-photon scattering predicted by quantum electrodynamics can give rise to second-harmonic generation of intense laser radiation in a dc magnetic field due to broken symmetry of interaction even in the “box” diagram approximation. This effect is possible only when the field system (i.e. optical wave+dc field) is inhomogeneous, in particular when a Gaussian laser beam (i.e. nonplane wave) propagates in either homogeneous or inhomogeneous dc magnetic field.


1990 ◽  
Vol 142 ◽  
pp. 457-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. Kundu ◽  
S. M. White

The emission of solar flares at millimeter wavelengths is of great interest both in its own right and because it is generated by the energetic electrons which also emit gamma rays. Since high-resolution imaging at gamma-ray energies is not presently possible, millimeter observations can act as a substitute. Except for that class of flares known as gamma-ray flares the millimetric emission is optically thin. It can be used as a powerful diagnostic of the energy distribution of electrons in solar flares and its evolution, and of the magnetic field. We have carried out high-spatial-resolution millimeter observations of solar flares this year using the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Array (BIMA), and report on the preliminary results in this paper (Kundu et al 1990; White et al 1990). We also report some recent results obtained from multifrequency observations using the VLA (White et al 1990).


2016 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Lemoine

Successful phenomenological models of pulsar wind nebulae assume efficient dissipation of the Poynting flux of the magnetized electron–positron wind as well as efficient acceleration of the pairs in the vicinity of the termination shock, but how this is realized is not yet well understood. This paper suggests that the corrugation of the termination shock, at the onset of nonlinearity, may lead towards the desired phenomenology. Nonlinear corrugation of the termination shock would convert a fraction of order unity of the incoming ordered magnetic field into downstream turbulence, slowing down the flow to sub-relativistic velocities. The dissipation of turbulence would further preheat the pair population on short length scales, close to equipartition with the magnetic field, thereby reducing the initial high magnetization to values of order unity. Furthermore, it is speculated that the turbulence generated by the corrugation pattern may sustain a relativistic Fermi process, accelerating particles close to the radiation reaction limit, as observed in the Crab nebula. The required corrugation could be induced by the fast magnetosonic modes of downstream nebular turbulence; but it could also be produced by upstream turbulence, either carried by the wind or seeded in the precursor by the accelerated particles themselves.


Galaxies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kouichi Hirotani

When a black hole accretes plasmas at very low accretion rate, an advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF) is formed. In an ADAF, relativistic electrons emit soft gamma-rays via Bremsstrahlung. Some MeV photons collide with each other to materialize as electron-positron pairs in the magnetosphere. Such pairs efficiently screen the electric field along the magnetic field lines, when the accretion rate is typically greater than 0.03–0.3% of the Eddington rate. However, when the accretion rate becomes smaller than this value, the number density of the created pairs becomes less than the rotationally induced Goldreich–Julian density. In such a charge-starved magnetosphere, an electric field arises along the magnetic field lines to accelerate charged leptons into ultra-relativistic energies, leading to an efficient TeV emission via an inverse-Compton (IC) process, spending a portion of the extracted hole’s rotational energy. In this review, we summarize the stationary lepton accelerator models in black hole magnetospheres. We apply the model to super-massive black holes and demonstrate that nearby low-luminosity active galactic nuclei are capable of emitting detectable gamma-rays between 0.1 and 30 TeV with the Cherenkov Telescope Array.


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