Some consequences of theories with maximal acceleration in laser–plasma acceleration

Abstract

In this paper, we consider classical electrodynamic theories with maximal acceleration and some of their phenomenological consequences for laser–plasma acceleration. It is shown that in a recently proposed higher-order jet theory of electrodynamics, the maximal effective acceleration reachable by a consistent bunch of point-charged particles being accelerated by the wakefield is damped for bunches containing large number of charged particles. We argue that such a prediction of the theory is falsifiable. In the case of Born–Infeld kinematics, laser–plasma acceleration phenomenology provides an upper bound for the Born–Infeld parameter b. Improvements in the beam qualities will imply stronger constraints on b.