Luo, Wen, Liu, Wei-Yuan, Yuan, Tao et al. (6 more authors) (2018) QED cascade saturation in extreme high fields. Scientific Reports. pp. 1-8. ISSN 2045-2322
Abstract
Upcoming ultrahigh power lasers at 10 PW level will make it possible to experimentally explore electron-positron (e-e+) pair cascades and subsequent relativistic e-e+ jets formation, which are supposed to occur in extreme astrophysical environments, such as black holes, pulsars, quasars and gamma-ray bursts. In the latter case it is a long-standing question as to how the relativistic jets are formed and what their temperatures and compositions are. Here we report simulation results of pair cascades in two counter-propagating QED-strong laser fields. A scaling of QED cascade growth with laser intensity is found, showing clear cascade saturation above threshold intensity of ~1024 W/cm2. QED cascade saturation leads to pair plasma cooling and longitudinal compression along the laser axis, resulting in the subsequent formation of relativistic dense e-e+ jets along transverse directions. Such laser-driven QED cascade saturation may open up the opportunity to study energetic astrophysical phenomena in laboratory.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018, The Author(s). |
Keywords: | Journal Article |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Electronic Engineering (York) The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Physics (York) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EPSRC EP/M018156/1 |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 12 Jun 2018 10:30 |
Last Modified: | 17 Oct 2024 08:37 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-26785-8 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/s41598-018-26785-8 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:131855 |