Enhanced, high energy photon production from resonant Compton scattering in a strong external field

A theoretical and phenomenological consideration is given to higher order, strong field effects in electron/laser interactions. A consistent strong field theory is the Furry interaction picture of intense field quantum field theory. In this theory, fermions are embedded in the strong laser field and the Volkov wavefunction solutions that result, are exact with respect to the strong field. When these Volkov fermions interact with individual photons from other sources, the transition probability is enhanced in a series of resonances when the kinematics allow the virtual fermion to go on-shell. An experiment is proposed in which, for the first time, resonances could be used to generate high energy photons from relativistic electrons at rates orders of magnitude in excess of usual mechanisms.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Strong field effects on physics processes at the Interaction Point of future linear colliders

Future lepton colliders will be precision machines whose physics program includes close study of the Higgs sector and searches for new physics via polarised beams. The luminosity requirements of such machines entail very intense lepton bunches at the interaction point with associated strong electromagnetic fields. These strong fields not only lead to obvious phenomena such as beamstrahlung, but also potentially affect every particle physics process via virtual exchange with the bunch fields. For precision studies, strong field effects have to be understood to the sub-percent level. Strong external field effects can be taken into account exactly via the Furry Picture or, in certain limits, via the Quasi-classical Operator method . Significant theoretical development is in progress and here we outline the current state of play.Comment: 6 pages, ICHEP 2012 Proceeding

Missouri\u27s Feral Hog Task Force: Addressing Increasing Feral Swine Populations

Feral hog (Sus scrofa) populations are expanding in size and distribution in Missouri and other parts of the United States. Increases of this invasive species are a serious concern because of the damage they cause and diseases they carry. Affected stakeholders in Missouri formed a task force in 1998 with sixteen member agencies and organizations to develop a program for the control/eradication of feral hogs in the state. The task force identified three objectives with appropriate supporting strategies to help achieve the ultimate goal: protection of Missouri \u27s public health, agricultural economy, and natural resources through eradication of feral swine in Missouri. The task force has been an essential vehicle in working toward these objectives during a time when member agencies and organizations are tight on funding. The collaboration has accomplished several tasks that could not have been implemented by any single participant. This paper presents the successes and shortcomings of Missouri\u27s efforts and provides recommendations to other states that may implement feral hog control

Design of Pre-Dumping Ring Spin Rotator with a Possibility of Helicity Switching for Polarized Positrons at the ILC

The use of polarized beams enhance the possibility of the precision measurements at the International Linear Collider (ILC). In order to preserve the degree of polarization during beam transport spin rotators are included in the current TDR ILC Lattice. In this report some advantages of using a combined spin rotator/spin flipper are discussed. A few possible lattice designs of spin flipper developed at DESY in 2012 are presented.Comment: Talk presented at the International Workshop on Future Linear Colliders (LCWS15), Whistler, Canada, 2-6 November 201

Measuring the boiling point of the vacuum of quantum electrodynamics

It is a long-standing nontrivial prediction of quantum electrodynamics that its vacuum is unstable in the background of a static, spatially uniform electric field and, in principle, sparks with spontaneous emission of electron-positron pairs. However, an experimental verification of this prediction seems out of reach because a sizeable rate for spontaneous pair production requires an extraordinarily strong electric field strength jEj of order the Schwinger critical field, Ec ¼ m2 e=e ≃ 1.3 × 1018 V=m, where me is the electron mass and e is its charge. Here, we show that the measurement of the rate of pair production due to the decays of high-energy bremsstrahlung photons in a high-intensity laser field allows for the experimental determination of the Schwinger critical field and, thus, the boiling point of the vacuum of quantum electrodynamics

Infra-red divergences in plane wave backgrounds

We show that the emission of soft photons via nonlinear Compton scattering in a pulsed plane wave (laser field) is in general infra-red divergent. We give examples of both soft and soft-collinear divergences, and we pay particular attention to the case of crossed fields in both classical and quantum theories.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure

Time evolution of ground motion-dependent depolarisation at linear colliders

Future linear colliders plan to collide polarised beams and the planned physics reach requires knowledge of the state of polarisation as precisely as possible. The polarised beams can undergo depolarisation due to various mechanisms. In order to quantify the uncertainty due to depolarisation, spin tracking simulations in the International Linear Collider (ILC) Beam Delivery System (BDS) and at the Interaction Point (IP) have been performed. Spin tracking in the BDS was achieved using the BMAD subroutine library, and the CAIN program was used to do spin tracking through the beam-beam collision. Assuming initially aligned beamline elements in the BDS, a ground motion model was applied to obtain realistic random misalignments over various time scales. Depolarisation at the level of 0.1% occurs within a day of ground motion at a noisy site. Depolarisation at the IP also exceeds 0.1% for the nominal parameter sets for both the ILC and for the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC). Theoretical work is underway to include radiative corrections in the depolarisation processes and simulation of the depolarisation through the entire collider is envisaged.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, PST09 proceedings; Proceedings of the 13th International Workshop on Polarised Sources, Targets and Polarimetry 2009, World Scientific 201