Model experiment of cosmic ray acceleration due to an incoherent wakefield induced by an intense laser pulse

Abstract

The first report on a model experiment of cosmic ray acceleration by using intense laser pulses is presented. Large amplitude light waves are considered to be excited in the upstream regions of relativistic astrophysical shocks and the wakefield acceleration of cosmic rays can take place. By substituting an intense laser pulse for the large amplitude light waves, such shock environments were modeled in a laboratory plasma. A plasma tube, which is created by imploding a hollow polystyrene cylinder, was irradiated by an intense laser pulse. Nonthermal electrons were generated by the wakefield acceleration and the energy distribution functions of the electrons have a power-law component with an index of ∼2. The maximum attainable energy of the electrons in the experiment is discussed by a simple analytic model. In the incoherent wakefield the maximum energy can be much larger than one in the coherent field due to the momentum space diffusion or the energy diffusion of electrons.