16,913 research outputs found
Pair plasma cushions in the hole-boring scenario
Pulses from a 10 PW laser are predicted to produce large numbers of
gamma-rays and electron-positron pairs on hitting a solid target. However, a
pair plasma, if it accumulates in front of the target, may partially shield it
from the pulse. Using stationary, one-dimensional solutions of the two-fluid
(electron-positron) and Maxwell equations, including a classical radiation
reaction term, we examine this effect in the hole-boring scenario. We find the
collective effects of a pair plasma "cushion" substantially reduce the
reflectivity, converting the absorbed flux into high-energy gamma-rays. There
is also a modest increase in the laser intensity needed to achieve threshold
for a non-linear pair cascade.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Plasma Physics and
Controlled Fusion. Typos corrected, reference update
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Dust from collisions in circumstellar disks: similarities to meteoritic materials?
Particle acceleration at ultrarelativistic shocks: an eigenfunction method
We extend the eigenfunction method of computing the power-law spectrum of
particles accelerated at a relativistic shock fronts to apply to shocks of
arbitrarily high Lorentz factor. In agreement with the findings of Monte-Carlo
simulations, we find the index of the power-law distribution of accelerated
particles which undergo isotropic diffusion in angle at an ultrarelativistic,
unmagnetized shock is s=4.23 (where s=-d(ln f)/dp with f the Lorentz invariant
phase-space density and p the momentum). This corresponds to a synchrotron
index for uncooled electrons of a=0.62 (taking cooling into account a=1.12),
where a=-d(ln F)/dn, F is the radiation flux and n the frequency. We also
present an approximate analytic expression for the angular distribution of
accelerated particles, which displays the effect of particle trapping by the
shock: compared with the non-relativistic case the angular distribution is
weighted more towards the plane of the shock and away from its normal. We
investigate the sensitivity of our results to the transport properties of the
particles and the presence of a magnetic field. Shocks in which the ratio of
Poynting to kinetic energy flux upstream is not small are less compressive and
lead to larger values of .Comment: Minor additions on publicatio
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Polarisation of high-energy emission in a pulsar striped wind
Recent observations of the polarisation of the optical pulses from the Crab
pulsar motivated detailed comparative studies of the emission predicted by the
polar cap, the outer gap and the two-pole caustics models.
In this work, we study the polarisation properties of the synchrotron
emission emanating from the striped wind model. We use an explicit asymptotic
solution for the large-scale field structure related to the oblique split
monopole and valid for the case of an ultra-relativistic plasma. This is
combined with a crude model for the emissivity of the striped wind and of the
magnetic field within the dissipating stripes themselves. We calculate the
polarisation properties of the high-energy pulsed emission and compare our
results with optical observations of the Crab pulsar. The resulting radiation
is linearly polarised. In the off-pulse region, the electric vector lies in the
direction of the projection on the sky of the rotation axis of the pulsar, in
good agreement with the data. Other properties such as a reduced degree of
polarisation and a characteristic sweep of the polarisation angle within the
pulses are also reproduced.Comment: Proceedings of the 363. WE-Heraeus Seminar on: Neutron Stars and
Pulsars (Posters and contributed talks) Physikzentrum Bad Honnef, Germany,
May.14-19, 2006, eds. W.Becker, H.H.Huang, MPE Report 291, pp.108-11
Prolific pair production with high-power lasers
Prolific electron-positron pair production is possible at laser intensities
approaching 10^{24} W/cm^2 at a wavelength of 1 micron. An analysis of electron
trajectories and interactions at the nodes (B=0) of two counter-propagating,
circularly polarised laser beams shows that a cascade of gamma-rays and pairs
develops. The geometry is generalised qualitatively to linear polarisation and
laser beams incident on a solid target.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, minor revisions, accepted for publication in
Physical Review Letter
Kinetic instabilities that limit {\beta} in the edge of a tokamak plasma: a picture of an H-mode pedestal
Plasma equilibria reconstructed from the Mega-Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST)
have sufficient resolution to capture plasma evolution during the short period
between edge-localized modes (ELMs). Immediately after the ELM steep gradients
in pressure, P, and density, ne, form pedestals close to the separatrix, and
they then expand into the core. Local gyrokinetic analysis over the ELM cycle
reveals the dominant microinstabilities at perpendicular wavelengths of the
order of the ion Larmor radius. These are kinetic ballooning modes (KBMs) in
the pedestal and microtearing modes (MTMs) in the core close to the pedestal
top. The evolving growth rate spectra, supported by gyrokinetic analysis using
artificial local equilibrium scans, suggest a new physical picture for the
formation and arrest of this pedestal.Comment: Final version as it appeared in PRL (March 2012). Minor improvements
include: shortened abstract, and better colour table for figures. 4 pages, 6
figure
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