Radiative collapse of a relativistic electron-positron plasma to ultrahigh densities

Abstract

It is shown that a relativistic electron-positron plasma formed by the coalescence of two counterstreaming intense relativistic electron and positron beams can collapse into a very-small-diameter filament. The collapse is accompanied by the emission of intense coherent $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ radiation. The radius of the collapsed state is determined by the quantum-mechanical uncertainty principle. At its maximum contraction the electron-positron plasma can approach nuclear densities. The predicted effect may have many interesting applications, some of which are briefly mentioned. The generation of the intense beams seems to be possible with existing techniques.