Transverse self-modulation of ultra-relativistic lepton beams in the plasma wakefield accelerator

The transverse self-modulation of ultra-relativistic, long lepton bunches in high-density plasmas is explored through full-scale particle-in-cell simulations. We demonstrate that long SLAC-type electron and positron bunches can become strongly self-modulated over centimeter distances, leading to wake excitation in the blowout regime with accelerating fields in excess of 20 GV/m. We show that particles energy variations exceeding 10 GeV can occur in meter-long plasmas. We find that the self-modulation of positively and negatively charged bunches differ when the blowout is reached. Seeding the self-modulation instability suppresses the competing hosing instability. This work reveals that a proof-of-principle experiment to test the physics of bunch self-modulation can be performed with available lepton bunches and with existing experimental apparatus and diagnostics.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Physics of Plasma

Ion motion in the wake driven by long particle bunches in plasmas

We explore the role of the background plasma ion motion in self-modulated plasma wakefield accelerators. We employ J. Dawson's plasma sheet model to derive expressions for the transverse plasma electric field and ponderomotive force in the narrow bunch limit. We use these results to determine the on-set of the ion dynamics, and demonstrate that the ion motion could occur in self-modulated plasma wakefield accelerators. Simulations show the motion of the plasma ions can lead to the early suppression of the self-modulation instability and of the accelerating fields. The background plasma ion motion can nevertheless be fully mitigated by using plasmas with heavier plasmas.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figure

The \gamma-ray production in neutral-current neutrino oxygen interaction in the energy range above 100 MeV

We calculate the cross section of the gamma-ray production from neutral-current neutrino-oxygen quasi-elastic interaction, $\nu+\^{16}O \rightarrow \nu +p+^{15}N*$, or $\nu+^{16}O \rightarrow \nu+n+^{15}O*$, in which the residual nuclei (15N* or 15O*) lead to the gamma-ray emission with gamma-ray energy >6 MeV at the branching ratio of 41%. Above 200 MeV, this cross section dominates over that of gamma-ray production from the inelastic reaction, $\nu+^{16}O->\nu+^{16}O*$. In the present calculation, spectral function and the spectroscopic factors of $1p_{1/2}, 1p_{3/2} and 1s_{1/2}$ states are essential. The gamma-ray production is dominated by the deexcitation of $1p_{3/2}$ state of the residual nucleus

Baryon loading and the Weibel instability in gamma-ray bursts

The dynamics of two counter-streaming electron-positron-ion unmagnetized plasma shells with zero net charge is analyzed in the context of magnetic field generation in GRB internal shocks due to the Weibel instability. The effects of large thermal motion of plasma particles, arbitrary mixture of plasma species and space charge effects are taken into account. We show that, although thermal effects slow down the instability, baryon loading leads to a non-negligible growth rate even for large temperatures and different shell velocities, thus guaranteeing the robustness and the occurrence of the Weibel instability for a wide range of scenarios.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Long-time evolution of magnetic fields in relativistic GRB shocks

We investigate the long-time evolution of magnetic fields generated by the two-stream instability at ultra- and sub-relativistic astrophysical collisionless shocks. Based on 3D PIC simulation results, we introduce a 2D toy model of interacting current filaments. Within the framework of this model, we demonstrate that the field correlation scale in the region far downstream the shock grows nearly as the light crossing time, lambda(t) ~ ct, thus making the diffusive field dissipation inefficient. The obtained theoretical scaling is tested using numerical PIC simulations. This result extends our understanding of the structure of collisionless shocks in gamma-ray bursts and other astrophysical objects.Comment: 5 pages. 2 figures. Submitted to ApJ

Three-dimensional simulations of laser-plasma interactions at ultrahigh intensities

Three-dimensional (3D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations are used to investigate the interaction of ultrahigh intensity lasers ($> 10^{20}$ W/cm$^{-2}$) with matter at overcritical densities. Intense laser pulses are shown to penetrate up to relativistic critical density levels and to be strongly self-focused during this process. The heat flux of the accelerated electrons is observed to have an annular structure when the laser is tightly focused, showing that a large fraction of fast electrons is accelerated at an angle. These results shed light into the multi-dimensional effects present in laser-plasma interactions of relevance to fast ignition of fusion targets and laser-driven ion acceleration in plasmas.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figur