Surface modes and multi-power law structure in the early-time response of magnetic targets

It was recently demonstrated [P. B. Weichman, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 91}, 143908 (2003)] that the scattered electric field from highly conducting targets following a rapidly terminated electromagnetic pulse displays a universal $t^{-1/2}$ power law divergence at early time. It is now shown that for strongly permeable targets, $\mu_c/\mu_b \gg 1$, where $\mu_b$ is the background magnetic permeability, the early time regime separates into two distinct power law regimes, with the early-early time $t^{-1/2}$ behavior crossing over to $t^{-3/2}$ at late-early time, reflecting a spectrum of magnetic surface modes. The latter is confirmed by data from ferrous targets where $\mu_c/\mu_b = {\cal O}(10^2)$, and for which the early-early time regime is invisibly narrow.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Phase Control of Nonlinear Breit-Wheeler Pair Creation

Electron-positron pair creation occurs throughout the universe in the environments of extreme astrophysical objects, such as pulsar magnetospheres and black hole accretion disks. The difficulty of emulating these environments in the laboratory has motivated the use of ultrahigh-intensity laser pulses for pair creation. Here we show that the phase offset between a laser pulse and its second harmonic can be used to control the relative transverse motion of electrons and positrons created in the nonlinear Breit-Wheeler process. Analytic theory and particle-in-cell simulations of a head-on collision between a two-color laser pulse and electron beam predict that with an appropriate phase offset, the electrons will drift in one direction and the positrons in the other. The resulting current may provide a collective signature of nonlinear Breit-Wheeler, while the spatial separation resulting from the relative motion may facilitate isolation of positrons for subsequent applications or detection.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Criticality and Superfluidity in liquid He-4 under Nonequilibrium Conditions

We review a striking array of recent experiments, and their theoretical interpretations, on the superfluid transition in $^4$He in the presence of a heat flux, $Q$. We define and evaluate a new set of critical point exponents. The statics and dynamics of the superfluid-normal interface are discussed, with special attention to the role of gravity. If $Q$ is in the same direction as gravity, a self-organized state can arise, in which the entire sample has a uniform reduced temperature, on either the normal or superfluid side of the transition. Finally, we review recent theory and experiment regarding the heat capacity at constant $Q$. The excitement that surrounds this field arises from the fact that advanced thermometry and the future availability of a microgravity experimental platform aboard the International Space Station will soon open to experimental exploration decades of reduced temperature that were previously inaccessible.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, plus harvard.sty style file for references Accepted for publication in Colloquia section of Reviews of Modern Physic

Renormalization Group for Large N Strongly Commensurate Dirty Boson Model

The large N sigma model, in D<4 space-time dimensions, with disorder a function of d space dimensions, is analyzed via a renormalization group treatment. Critical exponents for average quantities are calculated, first to lowest order and then to all orders, in $\epsilon=D-2 - d/2$. In particular, it is found that $\nu d =2$. When D=d+1, this model is equivalent to a large N limit of the strongly commensurate dirty boson problem.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, to be published in PR

Analytic pulse technique for computational electromagnetics

Numerical modeling of electromagnetic waves is an important tool for understanding the interaction of light and matter, and lies at the core of computational electromagnetics. Traditional approaches to injecting and evolving electromagnetic waves, however, can be prohibitively expensive and complex for emerging problems of interest and can restrict the comparisons that can be made between simulation and theory. As an alternative, we demonstrate that electromagnetic waves can be incorporated analytically by decomposing the physics equations into analytic and computational parts. In particle-in-cell simulation of laser--plasma interaction, for example, treating the laser pulse analytically enables direct examination of the validity of approximate solutions to Maxwell's equations including Laguerre--Gaussian beams, allows lower-dimensional simulations to capture 3-D--like focusing, and facilitates the modeling of novel space--time structured laser pulses such as the flying focus. The flexibility and new routes to computational savings introduced by this analytic pulse technique are expected to enable new simulation directions and significantly reduce computational cost in existing areas.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figure

Coherence and superradiance from a plasma-based quasiparticle accelerator

Coherent light sources, such as free electron lasers, provide bright beams for biology, chemistry, physics, and advanced technological applications. Increasing the brightness of these sources requires progressively larger devices, with the largest being several km long (e.g., LCLS). Can we reverse this trend, and bring these sources to the many thousands of labs spanning universities, hospitals, and industry? Here we address this long-standing question by rethinking basic principles of radiation physics. At the core of our work is the introduction of quasi-particle-based light sources that rely on the collective and macroscopic motion of an ensemble of light-emitting charges to evolve and radiate in ways that would be unphysical when considering single charges. The underlying concept allows for temporal coherence and superradiance in fundamentally new configurations, providing radiation with clear experimental signatures and revolutionary properties. The underlying concept is illustrated with plasma accelerators but extends well beyond this case, such as to nonlinear optical configurations. The simplicity of the quasi-particle approach makes it suitable for experimental demonstrations at existing laser and accelerator facilities.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure

Quantum critical phenomena of long-range interacting bosons in a time-dependent random potential

We study the superfluid-insulator transition of a particle-hole symmetric system of long-range interacting bosons in a time-dependent random potential in two dimensions, using the momentum-shell renormalization-group method. We find a new stable fixed point with non-zero values of the parameters representing the short- and long-range interactions and disorder when the interaction is asymptotically logarithmic. This is contrasted to the non-random case with a logarithmic interaction, where the transition is argued to be first-order, and to the $1/r$ Coulomb interaction case, where either a first-order transition or an XY-like transition is possible depending on the parameters. We propose that our model may be relevant in studying the vortex liquid-vortex glass transition of interacting vortex lines in point-disordered type-II superconductors.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Infrared Behavior of Interacting Bosons at Zero Temperature

We exploit the symmetries associated with the stability of the superfluid phase to solve the long-standing problem of interacting bosons in the presence of a condensate at zero temperature. Implementation of these symmetries poses strong conditions on the renormalizations that heal the singularities of perturbation theory. The renormalized theory gives: For d>3 the Bogoliubov quasiparticles as an exact result; for 1<d<=3 a nontrivial solution with the exact exponent for the singular longitudinal correlation function, with phonons again as low-lying excitations.Comment: Minor Changes. 4 pages, RevTeX, no figures, uses multicol.sty e-mail: [email protected]