Fundamental Physics During Violent Accelerations, in Laser Acceleration of Particles.pdf

January 7, 1985DOE/ER/3072-21Fundamental Physics During Violent AccelerationsKirk T. McDonaldJoseph Henry LaboratoriesPrinceton UniversityPrinceton, New Jersey 08544ABSTRACTWhen a powerful laser beam is focussed on a free electron the acceleration of the latter isso violent that the interaction is non-linear. We review the prospects for experimental studiesof non-linear electrodynamics of a single electron, with emphasis on the most accessible eect,non-linear Thomson scattering. We also speculate on the possibility of laboratory studies ofa novel eect related to the Hawking radiation of a black hole.(To appear in the Proceedings of the 2nd Workshop on Laser Acceleration of Particles, UCLA, Jan.7-18, 1985. This work supported in part by Deparment of Energy contract DE-AC02-76ER03072.) 1. Introduction.It is widely appreciated that the greatest laboratory acceleration obtainable with presenttechnology is that of an electron in a high intensity laser beam. In this paper we concernourselves with the intrinsic interest of the acceleration, rather than considering it as a stepin the production of high energy particle beams. In particular we wish to draw attentionto the various non-linear radiation eects which can be explored with strongly acceleratedelectrons.An important qualitative feature distinguishes our understanding of the electromagneticinteraction from that of the strong, weak and gravitational interactions. Namely that thelatter are fundamentally non-linear, meaning that the bosonic quanta which mediate these in-teractions can couple to themselves. However experimental application of our understandingis largely limited to situations in which these self-couplings can be ignored, so that the inter-action is eectively linear. Yet a complete understanding of the fundamental interactions willrequire mastery of their non-linear aspects as well. As a step towards the elucidation of fun-damental non-linear phenomena we consider the unusual case of very strong electro