No Arabic abstract
The dynamics of charged particles in electromagnetic fields is an essential component of understanding the most extreme environments in our Universe. In electromagnetic fields of sufficient magnitude, radiation emission dominates the particle motion and effects of nonlinear quantum electrodynamics (QED) are crucial, which triggers electron-positron pair cascades and counterintuitive particle-trapping phenomena. As a result of recent progress in laser technology, high-power lasers provide a platform to create and probe such fields in the laboratory. With new large-scale laser facilities on the horizon and the prospect of investigating these hitherto unexplored regimes, we review the basic physical processes of radiation reaction and QED in strong fields, how they are treated theoretically and in simulation, the new collective dynamics they unlock, recent experimental progress and plans, as well as possible applications for high-flux particle and radiation sources.
The Landau-Lifshitz equation provides an efficient way to account for the effects of radiation reaction without acquiring the non-physical solutions typical for the Lorentz-Abraham-Dirac equation. We solve the Landau-Lifshitz equation in its covariant four-vector form in order to control both the energy and momentum of radiating particle. Our study reveals that implicit time-symmetric collocation methods of the Runge-Kutta-Nystrom type are superior in both accuracy and better maintaining the mass-shell condition than their explicit counterparts. We carry out an extensive study of numerical accuracy by comparing the analytical and numerical solutions of the Landau-Lifshitz equation. Finally, we present the results of simulation of particles scattering by a focused laser pulse. Due to radiation reaction, particles are less capable for penetration into the focal region, as compared to the case of radiation reaction neglected. Our results are important for designing the forthcoming experiments with high intensity laser fields.
Time-centered, hence second-order, methods for integrating the relativistic momentum of charged particles in an electromagnetic field are derived. A new method is found by averaging the momentum before use in the magnetic rotation term, and an implementation is presented that differs from the relativistic Boris Push [1] only in the method for calculating the Lorentz factor. This is shown to have the same second-order accuracy in time as that (Boris Push) [1] found by splitting the electric acceleration and magnetic rotation and that [2] found by averaging the velocity in the magnetic rotation term. All three methods are shown to conserve energy when there is no electric field. The Boris method and the current method are shown to be volume-preserving, while the method of [2] and the current method preserve the $vec{E} times vec{B}$ velocity. Thus, of these second-order relativistic momentum integrations, only the integrator introduced here both preserves volume and gives the correct $vec{E} times vec{B}$ velocity. While all methods have error that is second-order in time, they deviate from each other by terms that increase as the motion becomes relativistic. Numerical results show that [2] develops energy errors near resonant orbits of a test problem that neither volume-preserving integrator does. [1] J. Boris, Relativistic plasma simulation-optimization of a hybrid code, in: Proc. Fourth Conf. Num. Sim. Plasmas, Naval Res. Lab, Wash. DC, 1970, pp. 3-67. [2] J.-L. Vay, Simulation of beams or plasmas crossing at relativistic velocity, Physics of Plasmas (1994-present) 15 (5) (2008) 056701.
We study electron motion in electromagnetic (EM) fields in the radiation-dominated regime. It is shown that the electron trajectories become close to some asymptotic trajectories in the strong field limit. The description of the electron dynamics by this asymptotic trajectories significantly differs from the ponderomotive description that is barely applicable in the radiation-dominated regime. The particle velocity on the asymptotic trajectory is completely determined by the local and instant EM field. The general properties of the asymptotic trajectories are discussed. In most of standing EM waves (including identical tightly-focused counter-propagating beams) the asymptotic trajectories are periodic with the period of the wave field. Furthermore, for a certain model of the laser beam we show that the asymptotic trajectories are periodic in the reference frame moving along the beam with its group velocity that may explain the effect of the radiation-reaction trapping.
We investigate the properties of quantum radiation produced by a uniformly accelerating charged particle undergoing thermal random motions, which originates from the coupling to the vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. Because the thermal random motions are regarded to result from the Unruh effect, this quantum radiation is termed Unruh radiation. The energy flux of Unruh radiation is negative and smaller than that of Larmor radiation by one order in a/m, where a is the constant acceleration and m is the mass of the particle. Thus, the Unruh radiation appears to be a suppression of the classical Larmor radiation. The quantum interference effect plays an important role in this unique signature. The results is consistent with the predictions of a model consisting of a particle coupled to a massless scalar field as well as those of the previous studies on the quantum effect on the Larmor radiation.
We consider the general problem of charged particle motion in a strong electromagnetic field of arbitrary configuration and find a universal behaviour: for sufficiently high field strengths, the radiation losses lead to a general tendency of the charge to move along the direction that locally yields zero lateral acceleration. The relativistic motion along such a direction results in no radiation losses, according to both classical and quantum descriptions of radiation reaction. We show that such a radiation-free direction (RFD) exists at each point of an arbitrary electromagnetic field, while the time-scale of approaching this direction decreases with the increase of field strength. Thus, in the case of a sufficiently strong electromagnetic field, at each point of space, the charges mainly move and form currents along local RFD, while the deviation of their motion from RFD can be calculated in order to account for their incoherent emission. This forms a general description of particle, and therefore plasma, dynamics in strong electromagnetic fields, the latter can be generated by state-of-the-art lasers or in astrophysical environments.