Abstract
The inexorable development of ever more powerful laser systems has re-ignited interest in electromagnetic radiation reaction and its significance for the collective behaviour of charged matter interacting with intense electromagnetic fields. The classical radiation reaction force on a point electron is non-conservative, and this has led some authors to question the validity of methods used to model ultra-intense laser-matter interactions including radiation reaction. We explain why such concern is unwarranted.
Highlights
Contemporary advances in ultra-intense laser facilities have driven the recent surge of interest in the collective behavior of charged matter in extreme conditions, and a fascinating topic in that context concerns the coupling of an electron to its own radiation field [1]
The Lorentz force on an electron due to an applied electromagnetic field is considerably larger than the force due to the electron’s emission, and the effect of the recoil due to the emitted radiation is negligible or can be adequately represented using simple physical reasoning
ELI [2] is expected to operate with intensities 1023 W/cm2 and electron energies in the GeV range, at which level the radiation reaction force becomes comparable to, and can even exceed, the applied force due to the laser field
Summary
Contemporary advances in ultra-intense laser facilities have driven the recent surge of interest in the collective behavior of charged matter in extreme conditions, and a fascinating topic in that context concerns the coupling of an electron to its own radiation field [1]. The Lorentz force on an electron due to an applied electromagnetic field is considerably larger than the force due to the electron’s emission, and the effect of the recoil due to the emitted radiation is negligible or can be adequately represented using simple physical reasoning. Such arguments avoid the difficulties that plague more comprehensive analyses, the parameter regimes promised by forthcoming ultra-intense laser facilities ensure that more fundamental considerations are of practical necessity. This Letter explores the significance of this observation, and the pathway that we tread leads directly to an explanation of why the recent criticisms given in Ref. [11] are unjustified
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