QED.jl - A Strong-field particle physics ecosystem

We present a novel approach for an event generator inherently using exact QED descriptions to predict the results of high-energy electron-photon scattering experiments that can be performed at modern X-ray laser facilities. With the advent of advanced laser systems producing high-frequency x-ray beams, e.g. the EuropeanXFEL as a prominent example, a regime of laser-plasma interaction is reached, where all-optical methods are increasingly questionable (see Fig. 1). Instead, the interaction of hot electrons and the X-ray laser pulse must be modeled with a QED-driven approach. Future experiments taking place at HED-HIBEF, LCLS, and other facilities targeting this regime, will encounter processes in x-ray scattering from (laser-driven) relativistic electrons, where the effects of the energy spectrum of the laser field as well as multi-photon interactions can not be neglected anymore. In contrast to the application window of existing QED-PIC codes, our event generator makes use of the fact that the classical nonlinearity parameter barely approaches unity in high-frequency regimes. Therefore, based on a momentum-space Furry-picture formulation of strong-field QED, this allows taking the finite bandwidth of the x-ray laser into account in the description of the QED-like multi-photon interaction.