Full Phase-Space Analysis of Particle Beam Transport in the Thermal Wave Model

Within the Thermal Wave Model framework a comparison among Wigner function, Husimi function, and the phase-space distribution given by a particle tracking code is made for a particle beam travelling through a linear lens with small aberrations. The results show that the quantum-like approach seems to be very promising.Comment: 15 pages, plain LaTeX, + 3 uuencoded figures, to be published in Phys. Lett.

Classical and Quantum-like approaches to Charged-Particle Fluids in a Quadrupole

A classical description of the dynamics of a dissipative charged-particle fluid in a quadrupole-like device is developed. It is shown that the set of the classical fluid equations contains the same information as a complex function satisfying a Schrodinger-like equation in which Planck's constant is replaced by the time-varying emittance, which is related to the time-varying temperature of the fluid. The squared modulus and the gradient of the phase of this complex function are proportional to the fluid density and to the current velocity, respectively. Within this framework, the dynamics of an electron bunch in a storage ring in the presence of radiation damping and quantum-excitation is recovered. Furthermore, both standard and generalized (including dissipation) coherent states that may be associated with the classical particle fluids are fully described in terms of the above formalism.Comment: LaTex, to appear in Physica Script

Effective cosmological constant induced by stochastic fluctuations of Newton's constant

We consider implications of the microscopic dynamics of spacetime for the evolution of cosmological models. We argue that quantum geometry effects may lead to stochastic fluctuations of the gravitational constant, which is thus considered as a macroscopic effective dynamical quantity. Consistency with Riemannian geometry entails the presence of a time-dependent dark energy term in the modified field equations, which can be expressed in terms of the dynamical gravitational constant. We suggest that the late-time accelerated expansion of the Universe may be ascribed to quantum fluctuations in the geometry of spacetime rather than the vacuum energy from the matter sector.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, v2: added legend in Fig.1 and a referenc

The slingshot effect: a possible new laser-driven high energy acceleration mechanism for electrons

We show that under appropriate conditions the impact of a very short and intense laser pulse onto a plasma causes the expulsion of surface electrons with high energy in the direction opposite to the one of propagation of the pulse. This is due to the combined effects of the ponderomotive force and the huge longitudinal field arising from charge separation ("slingshot effect"). The effect should also be present with other states of matter, provided the pulse is sufficiently intense to locally cause complete ionization. An experimental test seems to be feasible and, if confirmed, would provide a new extraction and acceleration mechanism for electrons, alternative to traditional radio-frequency-based or Laser-Wake-Field ones.Comment: File RevTex, 12 pages, 8 figure

Propagation of ultrastrong femtosecond laser pulses in PLASMON-X

The derivation is presented of the nonlinear equations that describe the propagation of ultrashort laser pulses in a plasma, in the Plasmon-X device. It is shown that the Plasmon-X scheme used for the electron acceleration uses a sufficiently broad beam ($L_\bot\sim 130\,\,\mu{\rm m}$) that justifies the use of the standard stationary 1-D approximation in the electron hydrodynamic equations, since the pulse width is sufficiently bigger than the pulse length ($\sim 7.5\,\,\mu{\rm m}$). Furthermore, with the laser power of $W\leq 250$ TW and the $130\,\,\mu{\rm m}$ spot size, the dimensionless laser vector potential is sufficiently small $|A_{\bot_0}|^2/{2} = ({W}/{c^2\epsilon_0})({\lambda^2}/{8 \pi^2 c})({4}/{\pi L_\bot^2})({e}/{m_0 c})^2 \sim 0.26$, the nonlinearity is sufficiently weak to allow the power expansion in the nonlinear Poissons's equation. Such approximation yields a nonlinear Schr\" odinger equation with a reactive nonlocal nonlinear term. The nonlocality contains a cosine function under the integral, indicating the oscillating wake. For a smaller spot size that is used for the Thomson scattering, $L_\bot = 10\,\, \mu$m, the length and the width of the pulse are comparable, and it is not possible to use the 1-D approximation in the hydrodynamic equations. With such small spot size, the laser intensity is very large, and most likely some sort of chanelling in the plasma would take place (the plasma gets locally depleted so much that the electromagnetic wave practically propagates in vacuum).Comment: Oral contribution O3.205 delivered at the 38th EPS Conference on Plasma Physics, Strasbourg, France, 26 June - 1 July, 201