Strong-field QED Research Articles

Vacuum instability in QED with an asymmetric x step: New example of an exactly solvable case

We present a new exactly solvable case in strong-field QED with a one-dimensional step potential (x-step). The corresponding x-step is given by an analytic asymmetric with respect to the axis x reflection function. The step can be considered as a certain analytic “deformation” of the symmetric Sauter field. Moreover, it can be treated as a new regularization of the Klein step field. We study the vacuum instability caused by this x-step in the framework of a nonperturbative approach to strong-field QED. Exact solutions of the Dirac equation used in the corresponding nonperturbative calculations are represented in the form of stationary plane waves with special left and right asymptotics and identified as components of initial and final wave packets of particles. We show that in spite of the fact that the symmetry with respect to positive and negative bands of energies is broken, the distribution of created pairs and other physical quantities can be expressed via elementary functions. We consider the processes of transmission and reflection in the ranges of the stable vacuum and study physical quantities specifying the vacuum instability. We find the differential mean numbers of electron-positron pairs created from the vacuum, the components of current density and energy-momentum tensor of the created electrons and positrons leaving the area of the strong field under consideration. Besides, we study the particular case of the particle creation due to a weakly inhomogeneous electric field and obtain explicitly the total number, the current density and energy-momentum tensor of created particles. Unlike the symmetric case of the Sauter field the asymmetric form of the field under consideration causes the energy density and longitudinal pressure of created electrons to be not equal to the energy density and longitudinal pressure of created positrons. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Quantum simulations for strong-field QED

Quantum field theory in the presence of strong background fields contains interesting problems where quantum computers may someday provide a valuable computational resource. In the noisy intermediate-scale quantum era it is useful to consider simpler benchmark problems in order to develop feasible approaches, identify critical limitations of current hardware, and build new simulation tools. Here we perform quantum simulations of strong-field QED (SFQED) in 3+1 dimensions, using real-time nonlinear Breit-Wheeler pair production as a prototypical process. The strong-field QED Hamiltonian is derived and truncated in the Furry-Volkov mode expansion, and the interactions relevant for Breit-Wheeler are transformed into a quantum circuit. Quantum simulations of a “null double slit” experiment are found to agree well with classical simulations following the application of various error mitigation strategies, including an asymmetric depolarization algorithm which we develop and adapt to the case of Trotterization with a time-dependent Hamiltonian. We also discuss longer-term goals for the quantum simulation of SFQED. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Parametric study of the polarization dependence of nonlinear Breit–Wheeler pair creation process using two laser pulses

With the rapid development of high-power petawatt class lasers worldwide, exploring physics in the strong field QED regime will become one of the frontiers for laser–plasma interactions research. Particle-in-cell codes, including quantum emission processes, are powerful tools for predicting and analyzing future experiments where the physics of relativistic plasma is strongly affected by strong field QED processes. The spin/polarization dependence of these quantum processes has been of recent interest. In this article, we perform a parametric study of the interaction of two laser pulses with an ultrarelativistic electron beam. The first pulse is optimized to generate high-energy photons by nonlinear Compton scattering and efficiently decelerate electron beam through the quantum radiation reaction. The second pulse is optimized to generate electron–positron pairs by the nonlinear Breit–Wheeler decay of photons with the maximum polarization dependence. This may be experimentally realized as a verification of the strong field QED framework, including the spin/polarization rates.

Simulations of laser-driven strong-field QED with Ptarmigan: Resolving wavelength-scale interference andγ-ray polarization

Accurate modeling is necessary to support precision experiments investigating strong-field QED phenomena. This modeling is particularly challenging in the transition between the perturbative and nonperturbative regimes, where the normalized laser amplitude a0 is comparable to unity and wavelength-scale interference is significant. Here, we describe how to simulate nonlinear Compton scattering, Breit–Wheeler pair creation, and trident pair creation in this regime, using the Monte Carlo particle-tracking code Ptarmigan. This code simulates collisions between high-intensity lasers and beams of electrons or γ rays, primarily in the framework of the locally monochromatic approximation. We benchmark our simulation results against full QED calculations for pulsed plane waves and show that they are accurate at the level of a few per cent, across the full range of particle energies and laser intensities. This work extends our previous results to linearly polarized lasers and arbitrary polarized γ rays.

Detector challenges of the strong-field QED experiment LUXE at the European XFEL

The LUXE experiment aims at studying high-field QED in electron-laser and photon-laser interactions, with the 16.5 GeV electron beam of the European XFEL and a laser beam with power of up to 350 TW. This experiment will use one electron bunch out of 2700 bunches per train from XFEL. The experiment will measure the multiplicity spectra of electrons, positrons and photons in expected ranges of 10-3 to 109 particles per 1 Hz bunch crossing, depending on the laser power and focus. These measurements have to be performed in the presence of low-energy high radiation-background. To meet these challenges, for high-rate electron and photon fluxes, the experiment will use Cherenkov radiation detectors, scintillator screens, sapphire sensors as well as lead-glass monitors for backscattering off the beam-dump. A four layer silicon-pixel tracker and a compact electromagnetic tungsten calorimeter with GaAs sensors will be used to measure the positron spectra. The layout of the experiment and the expected performance under the harsh radiation conditions will be presented. Beam tests for the Cherenkov detector and the electromagnetic calorimeter were performed at DESY recently and results will be presented. The experiment received a stage 0 critical approvement (CD0) from the DESY management and is in the process of preparing its technical design report (TDR). It is expected to start running in 2025/6.

SFQEDtoolkit: A high-performance library for the accurate modeling of strong-field QED processes in PIC and Monte Carlo codes

Strong-field quantum electrodynamics (SFQED) processes are central in determining the dynamics of particles and plasmas in extreme electromagnetic fields such as those present in the vicinity of compact astrophysical objects or generated with ultraintense lasers. SFQEDtoolkit is an open source library designed to allow users for a straightforward implementation of SFQED processes in existing particle-in-cell (PIC) and Monte Carlo codes. Through advanced function approximation techniques, high-energy photon emission and electron-positron pair creation probability rates and energy distributions are calculated within the locally-constant-field approximation (LCFA) as well as with more advanced models [Phys. Rev. A 99, 022125 (2019)]. SFQEDtoolkit is designed to provide users with high-performance and high-accuracy, and neat examples showing its usage are provided. In the near future, SFQEDtoolkit will be enriched to model the angular distribution of the generated particles, i.e., beyond the commonly employed collinear emission approximation, as well as to model spin and polarization dependent SFQED processes. Notably, the generality and flexibility of the presented function approximation approach makes it suitable to be employed in other areas of physics, chemistry and computer science. Program summaryProgram Title: SFQEDtoolkit (version 1.0)CPC Library link to program files:https://doi.org/10.17632/j7mhj3cg3m.1Developer's repository link:https://github.com/QuantumPlasma/SFQEDtoolkitLicensing provisions: GPLv3Programming language: C++, FortranNature of problem: The accurate simulation of strong-field QED processes in the interaction of particles or plasmas with strong electromagnetic fields is critical for present and future experiments with ultraintense lasers as well as to unveil the dynamics around compact astrophysical objects. State-of-the-art PIC and Monte Carlo codes implement strong-field QED processes by means of lookup tables, where the approximated function is evaluated on a fixed set of points. This typically results in numerical artifacts such as stairlike structures in the approximated function, and in a reduced efficiency when large size lookup tables are necessary. An easily implementable open-source accurate and efficient simulation tool is required to address problems at the high-intensity frontier of plasma physics and astrophysics.Solution method: Strong-field QED process rates and particle distributions are calculated by leveraging advanced approximation methods based on variable and function transformation, asymptotic expansions as well as Chebyshev polynomial expansions. This provides a numerically-stable and efficient approach that allows us to overcome all limitations of existing methods based on standard lookup tables.

The worldline formalism in strong-field QED

The worldline formalism provides an alternative to Feynman diagrams that has been found particularly useful for external-field calculations in quantum electrodynamics. Here I summarize its present range of applications, which includes Schwinger pair creation, photon splitting in constant fields and plane-wave backgrounds, as well as non-linear Compton scattering in constant fields.

Photon emission in the graphene under the action of a quasiconstant external electric field

Following a nonperturbative formulation of strong-field QED developed in our earlier works, and using the Dirac model of the graphene, we construct a reduced QED_{3,2} to describe one species of the Dirac fermions in the graphene interacting with an external electric field and photons. On this base, we consider the photon emission in this model and construct closed formulas for the total probabilities. Using the derived formulas, we study probabilities for the photon emission by an electron and for the photon emission accompanying the vacuum instability in the quasiconstant electric field that acts in the graphene plane during the time interval T. We study angular and polarization distribution of the emission as well as emission characteristics in a high frequency and low frequency approximations. We analyze the applicability of the presented calculations to the graphene physics in laboratory conditions. In fact, we are talking about a possible observation of the Schwinger effect in these conditions.

Calculations of vacuum mean values of spinor field current and energy–momentum tensor in a constant electric background

In the framework of strong-field QED with x-steps, we study vacuum mean values of the current density and energy–momentum tensor of the quantized spinor field placed in the so-called L-constant electric background. The latter background can be, for example, understood as the electric field confined between capacitor plates, which are separated by a sufficiently large distance L. First, we reveal peculiarities of nonperturbative calculating of mean values in strong-field QED with x-steps in general and, in the L-constant electric field, in particular. We propose a new renormalization and volume regularization procedures that are adequate for these calculations. We find necessary representations for singular spinor functions in the background under consideration. With their help, we calculate the above mentioned vacuum means. In the obtained expressions, we show how to separate global contributions due to the particle creation and local ones due to the vacuum polarization. We demonstrate how these contributions can be related to the renormalized effective Heisenberg–Euler Lagrangian.

Creation and direct laser acceleration of positrons in a single stage

Relativistic positron beams are required for fundamental research in nonlinear strong field QED, plasma physics, and laboratory astrophysics. Positrons are difficult to create and manipulate due to their short lifetime, and their energy gain is limited by the accelerator size in conventional facilities. Alternative compact accelerator concepts in plasmas are becoming more and more mature for electrons, but positron generation and acceleration remain an outstanding challenge. Here, we propose a new setup where we can generate, inject, and accelerate them in a single stage during the propagation of an intense laser in a plasma channel. The positrons are created from a laser-electron collision at 90\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}, where the injection and guiding are made possible by an 800-nC electron beam loading which reverses the sign of the background electrostatic field. We obtain a 17-fC positron beam, with GeV-level central energy within 0.5 mm of plasma.

Attaining a strong-field QED signal at laser-electron colliders with optimized focusing

Colliding bunches of high-energy electrons with intense laser pulses provides a basis for studying strong-field QED processes enabled by high values of quantum non-linearity parameter $\chi$. Nevertheless, the signal deconvolution is intricate due to probabilistic nature of the processes and shot-to-shot variation of the impact parameter, which disfavors the use of tight focusing. We propose a concept for distinguishing the signal of high-$\chi$ emissions that enables the use of optimal focusing to attain the highest $\chi \approx 5.25 \left(\varepsilon / (\text{1 GeV})\right)\left(P/(\text{1 PW})\right)^{1/2}\left((\text{1 }\mu\text{m})/\lambda\right)$ for a given electron energy $\varepsilon$, laser power $P$ and wavelength $\lambda$. Reaching such $\chi$ with f/2 focusing requires more than 10 times higher power.

Proportionality of gravitational and electromagnetic radiation by an electron in an intense plane wave

Accelerated charges emit both electromagnetic and gravitational radiation. Classically, it was found that the electromagnetic energy spectrum radiated by an electron in a monochromatic plane wave is proportional to the corresponding gravitational one. Quantum mechanically, it was shown that the amplitudes of graviton photoproduction and Compton scattering are proportional to each other at tree level. Here, by combining strong-field QED and quantum gravity, we demonstrate that the amplitude of nonlinear graviton photoproduction in an arbitrary plane wave is proportional to the corresponding amplitude of nonlinear Compton scattering. Also, introducing classical amplitudes we prove that the proportionality relies on the semiclassical nature of the electron's motion in a plane wave and on energy-momentum conservation laws, leading to the same proportionality constant in the classical and quantum case. These results deepen the intertwine between gravity and electromagnetism into both a nonlinear and a quantum level.

Detector challenges of the strong-field QED experiment LUXE at the European XFEL

The LUXE experiment aims at studying high-field QED in electron–laser and photon–laser interactions, with the 16.5 GeV electron beam of the European XFEL and a laser beam with power of up to 350 TW. The experiment will measure the spectra of electrons, positrons and photons in the expected range of 10−3 to 109 per 1 Hz bunch crossing, depending on the laser power and focus. These measurements have to be performed in the presence of low-energy high radiation-background. To meet these challenges, for high-rate electron and photon fluxes, the experiment will use Cherenkov radiation detectors, scintillator screens, sapphire sensors as well as lead-glass monitors for backscattering off the beam-dump. A four-layer silicon-pixel tracker and a compact electromagnetic tungsten calorimeter with GaAs sensors will be used to measure the positron spectra. The layout of the experiment and the expected performance under the harsh radiation conditions, together with the test of the Cherenkov detector and the electromagnetic (EM) calorimeter performed recently at DESY, are presented. The experiment received a stage 0 critical approval (CD0) from the DESY management and is in the process of preparing its technical design report (TDR). It is expected to start running in 2025/2026.

Instrumentation challenges of the strong-field QED experiment LUXE at the European XFEL*

The LUXE experiment aims at studying strong-field QED in electron-laser and photon-laser interactions, with the 16.5 GeV electron beam of the European XFEL and a laser beam with power of up to 350 TW. The strong-field QED processes are expected to have production rates ranging from 10−3 to 109 per 10 Hz bunch crossing. Additionally, these measurements must be performed in a low-energy, high-radiation background. The LUXE experiment will utilise various detector technologies to overcome these challenges.

QED effects exploration based on ultra-intensity lasers

With the development of the laser technology, the interaction between laser and matter is expected to enter the field of strong field QED, which has become as one of the hottest research directions. In this paper, we present the development of laser technology and the realization of ultra-intense ultra-short laser. Specifically, we demonstrate the progress of laser strong field QED and the laser-plasma interaction. Especially, the frontier progress of Laser-plasma QED, as well as its results of numerical simulation and the related QED process are demonstrated. Additionally, some relevant interesting strong field QED effects are also discussed. Besides, the frontier development of vacuum-related QED effects is evaluated, e.g., the vacuum birefringence. These results have important practical significance for some applications related to precision measurement, for example the optical clock. Moreover, they shed light on testing the basic theory of QED from a higher precision and guiding for new generation of laser development.

Quasiclassical representation of the Volkov propagator and the tadpole diagram in a plane wave

The solution of the Dirac equation in the presence of an arbitrary plane wave, corresponding to the so-called Volkov states, has provided an enormous insight in strong-field QED. In [Phys. Rev. A \textbf{103}, 076011 (2021)] a new "fully quasiclassical" representation of the Volkov states has been found, which is equivalent to the one known in the literature but which more transparently shows the quasiclassical nature of the quantum dynamics of an electron in a plane-wave field. Here, we derive the corresponding expression of the propagator by constructing it using the fully quasiclassical form of the Volkov states. The found expression allows one, together with the fully quasiclassical expression of the Volkov states, to compute probabilities in strong-field QED in an intense plane wave by manipulating only 2-by-2 rather than 4-by-4 Dirac matrices as in the usual approach. Moreover, apart from the exponential functions featuring the classical action of an electron in a plane wave, the fully quasiclassical Volkov propagator depends only on the electron kinetic four-momentum in the plane wave, which is a gauge-invariant quantity. Finally, we also compute the one-loop tadpole diagram in a plane wave starting from the Volkov propagator and we find that after renormalization it identically vanishes.

Electron spin- and photon polarization-resolved probabilities of strong-field QED processes

A derivation of fully polarization-resolved probabilities is provided for high-energy photon emission and electron-positron pair production in ultrastrong laser fields. The probabilities resolved in both electron spin and photon polarization of incoming and outgoing particles are indispensable for developing QED Monte Carlo and QED-particle-in-cell codes, aimed at the investigation of polarization effects in nonlinear QED processes in ultraintense laser-plasma and laser-electron beam interactions, and other nonlinear QED processes in external ultrastrong fields, which involve multiple elementary processes of a photon emission and pair production. The quantum operator method introduced by Baier and Katkov is employed for the calculation of probabilities within the quasiclassical approach and the local constant field approximation. The probabilities for the ultrarelativistic regime are given in a compact form and are suitable to describe polarization effects in strong laser fields of arbitrary configuration, rendering them very well suited for applications.

GPU accelerated Monte Carlo simulation of high-intensity pulsed laser-electron interaction

We present a new Monte Carlo code for simulating strong field QED effects in high intensity Laser-Electron collisions, accelerated by massively parallel computations on GPUs. The numerical simulation tool is paired with a separate code which solves the Stratton-Chu vector diffraction integrals given the incoming beam on the focusing mirror, to more accurately describe the electromagnetic field at the focus of the mirror. Program summaryProgram title: SFQED codeCPC Library link to program files:https://doi.org/10.17632/bd5m7tf5yr.1Licensing provisions: MIT licenseProgramming language: C++ and CUDANature of problem: Evaluating the electromagnetic field, in the focus of a laser pulse with an arbitrary wavefront and transverse intensity profile focused by a parabolic mirror, is analytically not possible without performing several approximations along the way. It may prove vital in upcoming strong field QED experiments to know the field of an imperfect focused laser pulse exactly when laser intensities become large, as the interaction between high energy electrons and the focused laser pulse is numerically modeled when comparing to experiments.Solution method: We propose to numerically evaluate the Stratton-Chu vector diffraction integrals, given the wavefront and spatial intensity profile of the laser on the focusing mirror, through CUDA, and evaluate the electromagnetic field on a spatial grid around the focus of the laser pulse. A Monte-Carlo code that simulates the interaction between high energy particles and an electromagnetic field, will then use the evaluated focused laser field through trilinear interpolation to find the resulting electric field at the location of the particle in each time step.

Plane Wave Backgrounds in the Worldline Formalism

Abstract Plane-wave backgrounds play a special role in strong-field QED as non-trivial field configuration simple enough to be treated analytically whilst still leading to rich physical consequences. In vacuum and in constant backgrounds, the first quantised, string-inspired “Worldline Approach” to field theoryoffers substantial simplifications and calculational efficiency. We present a new, general approach to incorporating plane wave backgrounds into the Worldline Formalism extending initial work by Ilderton and Torgrimsson. The method uses resummation techniques to take the background into account non-perturbatively and yields “Master Formulae” for scattering amplitudes in the background that may offer an alternative tool to studying QED in plane waves as has been achieved in the constant field case.

From theory to precision modelling of strong-field QED in the transition regime

Abstract The combination of energetic electron beams, delivered from conventional accelerators at a high repetition rate, and ultraintense lasers, makes it possible to perform precision measurements of strong-field QED. The LUXE collaboration aims to perform precision measurements of nonlinear Compton scattering and Breit-Wheeler pair creation in the transition from the perturbative to nonperturbative regimes. Here we present an overview of recent developments in the modelling of strong-field QED processes, which are needed to reach the required precision of a few percent for intensity parameters 0.1 < ξ < 10. We discuss how to go from plane-wave QED results to numerical simulations and present predicted signals and error estimates.