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Acceleration of electrons in vacuum directly by intense laser fields, often termed vacuum laser acceleration (VLA), holds great promise for the creation of compact sources of high-charge, ultrashort, relativistic electron bunches. However, while the energy gain is expected to be higher with tighter focusing (i.e. stronger electric field), this does not account for the reduced acceleration range, which is limited by diffraction. Here, we present the results of an experimental investigation of VLA, using tungsten nanotips driven by relativistic-intensity few-cycle laser pulses. We demonstrate the acceleration of relativistic electron beams with typical charge of 100s pC to 15 MeV energies. Two different focusing geometries (tight and loose, with f-numbers one and three respectively) produced comparable results, despite a factor of ten difference in the peak intensities, which is evidence for the importance of post-injection acceleration mechanisms around the focus. Our results are in good agreement with the results of full-scale, three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.

The impact of radiation reaction and Breit-Wheeler pair production on acceleration of fully ionized Carbon ions driven by an intense linearly-polarized laser pulse has been investigated in the ultra-relativistic transparency regime. Against initial expectations radiation reaction and pair production at ultra-high laser intensities is found to enhance the energy gained by the ions. The electrons lose most of their transverse momentum and the additionally produced pair plasma of Breit-Wheeler electrons and positrons co-stream in the forward direction as opposed to the existing electrons streaming at an angle above zero. We discuss how these observations could be explained by the changes in the phase velocity of the Buneman instability, that is known to aid ion acceleration in the Breakout-Afterburner regime, by tapping the free energy in the relative electron and ion streams. We present evidence that these non-classical effects can further improve the highest Carbon ion energies in this transparency regime.

Visible or near infra-red light can be manipulated to produce bursts of coherent extreme ultraviolet (XUV) or X-rays via the relativistic high-order harmonic generation process when a laser irradiates a solid plasma target. The intensity of the spectral components of the reflected signal decays with increase of harmonic order and the efficiency of this non-linear process largely hinges on how prompt this decay is. This is governed by the conditions of the laser-plasma interaction for which various models have been proposed. At relativistic intensities, a spectrum exhibiting a power-law decay with an exponent of 8/3 or 4/3 is often stated. Here, we analyse the dependence of this exponent on interaction parameters including the angle of incidence, the carrier envelope phase, intensity of the laser and the pre-plasma length, and discuss opportunities for optimization. Our simulations show that, rather than there being one universal exponent, the spectral decay is a continuous function of the laser-plasma interaction parameters.

When a pulsed, few-cycle electromagnetic wave is focused by optics with f-number smaller than two, the frequency components it contains are focused to different regions of space, building up a complex electromagnetic field structure. Accurate numerical computation of this structure is essential for many applications such as the analysis, diagnostics, and control of high-intensity laser-matter interactions. However, straightforward use of finite-difference methods can impose unacceptably high demands on computational resources, owing to the necessity of resolving far-field and near-field zones at sufficiently high resolution to overcome numerical dispersion effects. Here, we present a procedure for fast computation of tight focusing by mapping a spherically curved far-field region to periodic space, where the field can be advanced by a dispersion-free spectral solver. In many cases of interest, the mapping reduces both run time and memory requirements by a factor of order 10, making it possible to carry out simulations on a desktop machine or a single node of a supercomputer. We provide an open-source C++ implementation with Python bindings and demonstrate its use for a desktop machine, where the routine provides the opportunity to use the resolution sufficient for handling the pulses with spectra spanning over several octaves. The described approach can facilitate the stability analysis of theoretical proposals, the studies based on statistical inferences, as well as the overall development and analysis of experiments with tightly-focused short laser pulses., Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures

In this letter, we investigate the effect of orbital angular momentum (OAM) on elastic photon-photon scattering in vacuum for the first time. We define exact solutions to the vacuum electro-magnetic wave equation which carry OAM. Using those, the expected coupling between three initialwaves is derived in the framework of an effective field theory based on the Euler-Heisenberg La-grangian and shows that OAM adds a signature to the generated photons thereby greatly improvingthe signal-to-noise ratio. This forms the basis for a proposed high-power laser experiment utilizingquantum optics techniques to filter the generated photons based on their OAM state, Comment: 7 Pages, 3 Figures (color), added supplemental materials to elaborate on some arguments and added some relevant references

During the interaction of intense femtosecond laser pulses with various targets, the natural mechanisms of laser energy transformation inherently lack temporal control and thus commonly do not provide opportunities for a controlled generation of a well-collimated, high-charge beam of ions with a given energy of particular interest. In an effort to alleviate this problem, it was recently proposed that the ions can be dragged by an electron bunch trapped in a controllably moving potential well formed by laser radiation. Such standing-wave acceleration (SWA) can be achieved through reflection of a chirped laser pulse from a mirror, which has been formulated as the concept of chirped-standing-wave acceleration (CSWA). Here we analyze general feasibility aspects of the SWA approach and demonstrate its reasonable robustness against field structure imperfections, such as those caused by misalignment, ellipticity and limited contrast. Using this we also identify prospects and limitations of the CSWA concept., Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures

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.

The radiation emission from electrons wiggling in a laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) process, being initially considered as a parasitic effect for the electron energy gain, can eventually serve as a novel X-ray source, that could be used for diagnostic purposes. Although several schemes for enhancing the X-ray emission in LWFA has been recently proposed and analyzed, finding an efficient way to use and control these radiation emissions remains an important problem. Based on analytical estimates and 3D particle-in-cell simulations, we here propose and examine a new method utilizing two colliding LWFA patterns with an angle in-between their propagation directions. Varying the angle of collision, the distance of acceleration before the collision and other parameters provide an unprecedented control over the emission parameters. Moreover, we reveal here that for a collision angle of 5$^\circ$, the two wakefields merge into a single LWFA cavity inducing strong and stable collective oscillations between the two trapped electron bunches. This results in an X-ray emission which is strongly peaked, both in the spatial and frequency domain. The basic concept of the proposed scheme may pave a way for using LWFA radiation sources in many important applications, such as phase-contrast radiography., Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures

Producing inward orientated streams of energetic electrons by intense laser pulses acting on solid targets is the most robust and accessible way of transferring the laser energy to particles, which underlies numerous applications, ranging from TNSA to laboratory astrophysics. Structures with the scale of the laser wavelength can significantly enhance energy absorption, which has been in the center of attention in recent studies. In this article, we demonstrate and assess the effect of the structures for widening the angular distribution of generated energetic electrons. We analyse the results of PIC simulations and reveal several aspects that can be important for the related applications.

There currently exists a number of different schemes for laser based ion acceleration in the literature. Some of these schemes are also partly overlapping, making a clear distinction between the schemes difficult in certain parameter regimes. Here, we provide a systematic numerical comparison between the following schemes and their analytical models: light-sail acceleration, Coulomb explosions, hole boring acceleration, and target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA). We study realistic laser parameters and various different target designs, each optimized for one of the acceleration schemes, respectively. As a means of comparing the schemes, we compute the ion current density generated at different laser powers, using two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, and benchmark the particular analytical models for the corresponding schemes against the numerical results. Finally, we discuss the consequences for attaining high fluxes through the studied laser ion-acceleration schemes., Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures

Accelerated charges radiate, and therefore must lose energy. The impact of this energy loss on particle motion, called radiation reaction, becomes significant in intense-laser matter interactions, where it can reduce collision energies, hinder particle acceleration schemes, and is seemingly unavoidable. Here we show that this common belief breaks down in short laser pulses, and that energy losses and radiation reaction can be controlled and effectively switched off by appropriate tuning of the pulse length. This "quenching" of emission is impossible in classical physics, but becomes possible in QED due to the discrete nature of quantum emissions., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures

The measurement of vacuum polarisation effects, in particular vacuum birefringence, using combined optical and x-ray laser pulses is now actively pursued. Here we briefly examine the feasibility of two alternative setups. The first utilises an alternative target, namely a converging dipole pulse, and the second uses an alternative probe, namely the synchrotron-like emission from highly energetic particles, themselves interacting with a laser pulse. The latter setup has been proposed for experiments at ELI-NP., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to the special issue "Ultra-high Field Physics With Lasers" of the Journal of Plasma Physics

We propose a novel mechanism for ion acceleration based on the guided motion of electrons from a thin target. The electron motion is locked to the moving nodes of a standing wave formed by a chirped laser pulse reflected from a mirror behind the target. This provides a stable longitudinal field of charge separation, thus giving rise to chirped standing wave acceleration (CSWA) of the residual ions of the layer. We demonstrate, both analytically and numerically, that quasi-monoenergetic ion beams with energies of the order 100 MeV are feasible for realistic pulse energies of 10 J. Moreover, a scaling law for higher laser intensities and layer densities is presented, indicating stable GeV-level energy gains of dense ion bunches, for soon-to-be available laser intensities., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

We investigate quantum radiation reaction in laser-electron interactions across different energy and intensity regimes. Using a fully quantum approach which also accounts exactly for the effect of the strong laser pulse on the electron motion, we identify in particular a regime in which radiation reaction is dominated by quantum interference. We find signatures of quantum radiation reaction in the electron spectra which have no classical analogue and which cannot be captured by the incoherent approximations typically used in the high-intensity regime. These signatures are measurable with presently available laser and accelerator technology., Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures: V2: references added, matches version to appear in PRL

Although, for current laser pulse energies, the weakly nonlinear regime of LWFA is known to be the optimal for reaching the highest possible electron energies, the capabilities of upcoming large laser systems will provide the possibility of running highly nonlinear regimes of laser pulse propagation in underdense or near-critical plasmas. Using an extended particle-in-cell (PIC) model that takes into account all the relevant physics, we show that such regimes can be implemented with external guiding for a relatively long distance of propagation and allow for the stable transformation of laser energy into other types of energy, including the kinetic energy of a large number of high energy electrons and their incoherent emission of photons. This is despite the fact that the high intensity of the laser pulse triggers a number of new mechanisms of energy depletion, which we investigate systematically., Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures

We consider the Thomson scattering of an electron in an ultra-intense chirped laser pulse. It is found that the introduction of a negative chirp means the electron enters a high frequency region of the field while it still has a large proportion of its original energy. This results in a significant enhancement of the energy and intensity of the emitted radiation as compared to the case without chirping., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures

We model the emission of high energy photons due to relativistic charged particle motion in intense laser-plasma interactions. This is done within a particle-in-cell code, for which high frequency radiation normally cannot be resolved due to finite time steps and grid size. A simple expression for the synchrotron radiation spectra is used together with a Monte-Carlo method for the emittance. We extend previous work by allowing for arbitrary fields, considering the particles to be in instantaneous circular motion due to an effective magnetic field. Furthermore we implement noise reduction techniques and present validity estimates of the method. Finally, we perform a rigorous comparison to the mechanism of radiation reaction, and find the emitted energy to be in excellent agreement with the losses calculated using radiation reaction.

We derive a simple expression for the photon helicity and polarisation-flip probabilities in arbitrary background fields, in the low energy regime. Taking the background to model a focused laser beam, we study the impact of pulse shape and collision geometry on the probabilities and on ellipticity signals of vacuum birefringence. We find that models which do not account for pulse duration can overestimate all signals in near head-on collisions by up to an order of magnitude. Taking pulse duration into account, the flip probability becomes relatively insensitive to both angular incidence and the fine details of the pulse structure., Comment: 10 pages, 9 jpg and pdf figures. Version 2: added references and extended discussion of ellipticity and collision angle dependence. Matches version to appear in PRD

We propose and develop a general method of numerical calculation of the wave function time evolution in a quantum system which is described by Hamiltonian of an arbitrary dimensionality and with arbitrary interactions. For this, we obtain a general n-order single-step propagator, which could be used for the numerical solving of the problem with any prescribed accuracy. We demonstrate an applicability of the proposed approach by considering a propagation of an electron in focused electromagnetic field with vortex electric field component., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures

The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in an ionized plasma is considered with a focus on the generation of magnetic field via the Biermann battery mechanisms. The problem is studied through direct numerical simulations of two counter-directed flows in 2D geometry. The simulations demonstrate the formation of eddies and their further interaction resulting in a large single vortex. At early stages, the generated magnetic field evolves due to the baroclinic term in the induction equation, revealing significantly different structures from the vorticity field, despite the fact that magnetic field and vorticity obey identical equations. At later times, the magnetic field exhibits complex behavior and continues to grow even after a hydrodynamic vortex has developed., Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, To be submitted to Physics of Plasmas

Vacuum birefringence is governed by the amplitude for a photon to flip helicity or polarisation state in an external field. Here we calculate the flip and non-flip amplitudes in arbitrary plane wave backgrounds, along with the induced spacetime-dependent refractive indices of the vacuum. We compare the behaviour of the amplitudes in the low energy and high energy regimes, and analyse the impact of pulse shape and energy. We also provide the first lightfront-QED derivation of the coefficients in the Heisenberg-Euler effective action., Comment: Version 2: additional results added, including discussion of vacuum refractive indices, analysis of flip and non-flip ampltidues at high-energy, additional plots, new title. Now 17 pages, 10 figures

We propose a new method of detecting radiation reaction effects in the motion of particles subjected to laser pulses of moderate intensity and long duration. The effect becomes sizeable for particles that gain almost no energy through the interaction with the laser pulse., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

The electron mass shift in a laser field has long remained an elusive concept. We show that the mass shift can exist in pulses but that it is neither unique nor universal: it can be reduced by pulse shaping. We show also that the detection of mass shift effects in laser-particle scattering experiments is feasible with current technology, even allowing for the transverse structure of realistic beams., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. V2: references added, introduction expanded

We consider the effects of radiation damping on the electron dynamics in a Gaussian beam model of a laser field. For high intensities, i.e. with dimensionless intensity a0 \gg 1, it is found that the dynamics divide into three regimes. For low energy electrons (low initial {\gamma}-factor, {\gamma}0) the radiation damping effects are negligible. At higher energies, but still at 2{\gamma}0 < a0, the damping alters the final displacement and the net energy change of the electron. For 2{\gamma}0 > a0 one is in a regime of radiation reaction induced electron capture. This capture is found to be stable with respect to the spatial properties of the electron beam and results in a significant energy loss of the electrons. In this regime the plane wave model of the laser field provides a good description of the dynamics, whereas for lower energies the Gaussian beam and plane wave models differ significantly. Finally the dynamics are considered for the case of an XFEL field. It is found that the significantly lower intensities of such fields inhibits the damping effects., Comment: 24 pages, 12 figures

We give an exact, analytic, and manifestly gauge invariant account of pair production in combined longitudinal and transverse electromagnetic fields, both depending arbitrarily on lightfront time. The instantaneous, nonperturbative probability of pair creation is given explicitly along with the spectra of the final particle yield. Our results are relevant to high-intensity QED experiments now being planned for future optical and x-ray free electron lasers., Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures

The process of protons transport in molecular water chains is of fundamental interest for many biological systems. Although many features of such systems can be analyzed using large-scale computational modeling, other features are better understood in terms of simplified model problems. Here we have tested, analytically and numerically, a model describing the classical proton hopping process in molecular water chains. In order to capture the main features of the proton hopping process in such molecular chains, we use a simplified model for our analysis. In particular, our discrete model describes a 1D chain of water molecules situated in an external protein channel structure, and each water molecule is allowed to oscillate around its equilibrium point in this system, while the protons are allowed to move along the line of neighboring oxygen atoms. The occurrence and properties of nonlinear solitary transport structures, allowing for much faster proton transport, are discussed, and the possible implications of these findings for biological systems are emphasized., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures

We discuss the theory and phenomenology of pair annihilation, within an ultra-short laser pulse, to a single photon. The signature of this process is the uni-directional emission of single photons with a fixed energy. We show that the cross section is significantly larger than for two-photon pair annihilation in vacuum, with XFEL parameters admitting a much clearer signal than optical beams., Comment: V2: 5 pages, 4 figures. Published version. Disucssion of optical case extended

The generation of ultra-strong attosecond pulses through laser-plasma interactions offers the opportunity to surpass the intensity of any known laboratory radiation source, giving rise to new experimental possibilities, such as quantum electrodynamical tests and matter probing at extremely short scales. Here we demonstrate that a laser irradiated plasma surface can act as an efficient converter from the femto- to the attosecond range, giving a dramatic rise in pulse intensity. Although seemingly similar schemes have been presented in the literature, the present setup deviates significantly from previous attempts. We present a new model describing the nonlinear process of relativistic laser-plasma interaction. This model, which is applicable to a multitude of phenomena, is shown to be in excellent agreement with particle-in-cell simulations. We provide, through our model, the necessary details for an experiment to be performed. The possibility to reach intensities above 10^26 W/cm^2, using upcoming 10 petawatt laser sources, is demonstrated., Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures

We investigate strong field vacuum effects using a phase space approach based on the Wigner formalism. We calculate the Wigner function in a strong null-field background exactly, using lightfront field theory. The Wigner function exhibits the distinct features of strong field QED: in particular we identify the effective mass in a laser pulse, compare it to the well-known mass shift in a periodic plane wave and identify signals of multi-photon absorption and emission. Finally, we show how to extend our results to describe vacuum pair production in colliding laser pulses., Comment: 9 pages, 12 .eps figures. Version 2: introduction extended. Published version

We discuss pair creation in a strong laser background. Using lightfront field theory, we show that all the physics is contained in the lightfront momentum transfer from the laser, and probe, to the produced pair. The dependence of this momentum transfer on the geometry of the laser leads to resonance and diffraction effects in pair production spectra. The lightfront approach naturally explains the interpretation of laser-stimulated pair production as a multi-photon process creating pairs of an effective mass., Comment: Talk presented by A.I. at Light Cone 2010: Relativistic Hadronic and Particle Physics, 14-18 June 2010, Valencia, Spain

We derive a fluid theory for spin-1/2 particles starting from an extended kinetic model based on a spin-projected density matrix formalism. The evolution equation for the spin density is found to contain a pressure-like term. We give an example where this term is important by looking at a linear mode previously found in a spin kinetic model., Comment: 4 pages

We review the effects of strong background fields in noncommutative QED. Beginning with the noncommutative Maxwell and Dirac equations, we describe how combined noncommutative and strong field effects modify the propagation of fermions and photons. We extend these studies beyond the case of constant backgrounds by giving a new and revealing interpretation of the photon dispersion relation. Considering scattering in background fields, we then show that the noncommutative photon is primarily responsible for generating deviations from strong field QED results. Finally, we propose a new method for constructing gauge invariant variables in noncommutative QED, and use it to analyse the physics of our null background fields., Comment: Discussion of UV/IR mixing extended, references added

We consider stimulated pair production employing strong-field QED in a high-intensity laser background. In an infinite plane wave, we show that light-cone quasi-momentum can only be transferred to the created pair as a multiple of the laser frequency, i.e.\ by a higher harmonic. This translates into discrete resonance conditions providing the support of the pair creation probability which becomes a delta-comb. These findings corroborate the usual interpretation of multi-photon production of pairs with an effective mass. In a pulse, the momentum transfer is continuous, leading to broadening of the resonances and sub-threshold behaviour. The peaks remain visible as long as the number of cycles per pulse exceeds unity. The resonance patterns in pulses are analogous to those of a diffraction process based on interference of the produced pairs., Comment: 7 pages, 7 EPS figures. Version 2 contains additional examples using smooth pulse envelopes. Conclusions unchanged

The nonlinear propagation of two-dimensional (2D) quantum ion-acoustic waves (QIAWs) is studied in a quantum electron-ion plasma. By using a 2D quantum hydrodynamic model and the method of multiple scales, a new set of coupled nonlinear partial differential equations is derived which governs the slow modulation of the 2D QIAW packets. The oblique modulational instability (MI) is then studied by means of a corresponding nonlinear Schroedinger equation derived from the coupled nonlinear partial differential equations. It is shown that the quantum parameter H (proportional to $\hbar$), associated with the Bohm potential, shifts the MI domains around the $k\theta$-plane, where $k$ is the carrier wave number and $\theta$ is the angle of modulation. In particular, the ion-acoustic wave (IAW), previously known to be stable under parallel modulation in classical plasmas, is shown to be unstable in quantum plasmas. The growth rate of the MI is found to be quenched by the obliqueness of modulation. The modulation of 2D QIAW packets along $\mathbf{k}$ is shown to be described by a set of Davey-Stewartson-like equations. The latter can be studied for the 2D wave collapse in dense plasmas. The predicted results, which could be important to look for stable wave propagation in laboratory experiments as well as in dense astrophysical plasmas, thus generalize the theory of MI of IAW propagations both in classical and quantum electron-ion plasmas., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures

We consider the influence of the electron spin on the nonlinear propagation of whistler waves. For this purpose a recently developed electron two-fluid model, where the spin up- and down populations are treated as different fluids, is adapted to the electron MHD regime. We then derive a nonlinear Schrodinger equation for whistler waves, and compare the coefficients of nonlinearity with and without spin effects. The relative importance of spin effects depend on the plasma density and temperature as well as the external magnetic field strength and the wave frequency. The significance of our results to various plasmas are discussed., Comment: 5 pages

Starting from the Pauli Hamiltonian operator, we derive a scalar quantum kinetic equations for spin-1/2 systems. Here the regular Wigner two-state matrix is replaced by a scalar distribution function in extended phase space. Apart from being a formulation of principal interest, such scalar quantum kinetic equation makes the comparison to classical kinetic theory straightforward, and lends itself naturally to currently available numerical Vlasov and Boltzmann schemes. Moreover, while the quasi-distribution is a Wigner function in regular phase space, it is given by a Q-function in spin space. As such, nonlinear and dynamical quantum plasma problems are readily handled. Moreover, the issue of gauge invariance is treated. Applications (e.g. ultra-dense laser compressed targets and their diagnostics), possible extensions, and future improvements of the presented quantum statistical model are discussed., Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures

We discuss a two-fold extension of QED assuming the presence of strong external fields provided by an ultra-intense laser and noncommutativity of spacetime. While noncommutative effects leave the electron's intensity induced mass shift unchanged, the photons change significantly in character: they acquire a quasi-momentum that is no longer light-like. We study the consequences of this combined noncommutative strong-field effect for basic lepton-photon interactions., Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. References added, typos corrected, bounds on noncommutativity scale added. Version to appear in PRD Rapid Communications

We discuss various limits which transform configuration space into phase space, with emphasis on those related to lightfront field theory, and show that they are unified by spectral flow. Examples include quantising in `almost lightfront' coordinates and the appearance of lightlike noncommutativity from a strong background laser field. We compare this with the limit of a strong magnetic field, and investigate the role played by lightfront zero modes., Comment: 7 pages, 2 eps figures. V2: minor changes, references added

The main characteristics of the linear Darrieus-Landau instability in the laser ablation flow are investigated. The dispersion relation of the instability is found numerically as a solution to an eigenvalue stability problem, taking into account the continuous structure of the flow. The results are compared to the classical Darrieus-Landau instability of a usual slow flame. The difference between the two cases is due to the specific features of laser ablation: high plasma compression and strong temperature dependence of electron thermal conduction. It is demonstrated that the Darrieus-Landau instability in laser ablation is much stronger than in the classical case. In particular, the maximum growth rate in the case of laser ablation is about three times larger than that for slow flames. The characteristic length scale of the Darrieus-Landau instability in the ablation flow is comparable to the total distance from the ablation zone to the critical zone of laser light absorption. The possibility of experimental observations of the Darrieus-Landau instability in laser ablation is discussed., Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures

The quantum vacuum constitutes a fascinating medium of study, in particular since near-future laser facilities will be able to probe the nonlinear nature of this vacuum. There has been a large number of proposed tests of the low-energy, high intensity regime of quantum electrodynamics (QED) where the nonlinear aspects of the electromagnetic vacuum comes into play, and we will here give a short description of some of these. Such studies can shed light, not only on the validity of QED, but also on certain aspects of nonperturbative effects, and thus also give insights for quantum field theories in general., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

We consider a dusty plasma, in which the dust particles have a magnetic dipole moment. A Hall-MHD type of model, generalized to account for the intrinsic magnetization, is derived. The model is shown to be energy conserving, and the energy density and flux is derived. The general dispersion relation is then derived, and we show that kinetic Alfv\'en waves exhibit an instability for a low temperature and high density plasma. We discuss the implication of our results., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure

A kinetic theory for spin plasmas is put forward, generalizing those of previous authors. In the model, the ordinary phase space is extended to include the spin degrees of freedom. Together with Maxwell's equations, the system is shown to be energy conserving. Analysing the linear properties, it is found that new types of wave-particle resonances are possible, that depend directly on the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron. As a result new wave modes, not present in the absence of spin, appear. The implications of our results are discussed., Comment: 4 pages, two figures, version to appear in Physical Review Letters

The role of viscous stress in heating of the fuel mixture in deflagration-to-detonation transition in tubes is studied both analytically and numerically. The analytical theory is developed in the limit of low Mach number; it determines temperature distribution ahead of an accelerating flame with maximum achieved at the walls. The heating effects of viscous stress and the compression wave become comparable at sufficiently high values of the Mach number. In the case of relatively large Mach number, viscous heating is investigated by direct numerical simulations. The simulations were performed on the basis of compressible Navier-Stokes gas-dynamic equations taking into account chemical kinetics. In agreement with the theory, viscous stress makes heating and explosion of the fuel mixture preferential at the walls. The explosion develops in an essentially multi-dimensional way, with fast spontaneous reaction spreading along the walls and pushing inclined shocks. Eventually, the combination of explosive reaction and shocks evolves into detonation., Comment: 27 pages, 11 figures, to appear in Physics Letters A

The problem of the Darrieus-Landau instability at a discontinuous deflagration front in a compressible flow is solved. Numerous previous attempts to solve this problem suffered from the deficit of boundary conditions. Here, the required additional boundary condition is derived rigorously taking into account the internal structure of the front. The derived condition implies a constant mass flux at the front; it reduces to the classical Darrieus-Landau condition in the limit of an incompressible flow. It is demonstrated that in general the solution to the problem depends on the type of energy source present in the system. In the common case of a strongly localized source, compression effects make the Darrieus-Landau instability considerably weaker. In particular, the Darrieus-Landau instability growth rate is reduced for laser ablation in comparison with the classical incompressible case. The instability disappears completely in the Chapman-Jouguet regime of ultimately fast deflagration., Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures, version to appear in Physics of Plasmas

The structure of a weak shock in a quantum plasma is studied, taking into account both dissipation terms due to thermal conduction and dispersive quantum terms due to the Bohm potential. Unlike quantum systems without dissipations, even a small thermal conduction may lead to a stationary shock structure. In the limit of zero quantum effects, the monotonic Burgers solution for the weak shock is recovered. Still, even small quantum terms make the structure non-monotonic with the shock driving a train of oscillations into the initial plasma. The oscillations propagate together with the shock. The oscillations become stronger as the role of Bohm potential increases in comparison with thermal conduction. The results could be of importance for laser-plasma interactions, such as inertial confinement fusion plasmas, and in astrophysical environments, as well as in condensed matter systems., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, version to appear in Physics of Plasmas

Influence of quantum effects on the internal waves and the Rayleigh-Taylor instability in plasma is investigated. It is shown that quantum pressure always stabilizes the RT instability. The problem is solved both in the limit of short-wavelength perturbations and exactly for density profiles with layers of exponential stratification. In the case of stable stratification, quantum pressure modifies the dispersion relation of the inertial waves. Because of the quantum effects, the internal waves may propagate in the transverse direction, which was impossible in the classical case. A specific form of pure quantum internal waves is obtained, which do not require any external gravitational field., Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures

Quantum electrodynamics predicts that photons undergo one-loop scattering. The combined effect of this on the behaviour of a photon gas for temperatures above 10^{10} K results in a softening of the equation of state. We calculate the effect this has on the effective equation of state in the early universe, taking into account all the species of the Standard Model. The change to the dynamics of the early universe is discussed., Comment: 4 pages, version to appear in Physics Letters B