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Speaker |
Tamburini, Matteo |
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Coauthors |
Tamburini, Matteo; Benedetti, Alberto; Keitel, Christoph H. |
| Talk Title |
Giant Collimated Gamma-Ray Flashes |
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Abstract |
Electromagnetic instabilities with the self-generation of strong electromagnetic fields are ubiquitous in astrophysics. Here we show that astrophysical-like sources of high-energy synchrotron radiation can be recreated in the laboratory. In fact, when a dense ultra-relativistic electron beam interacts with a millimetre thickness solid conductor electromagnetic instabilities develop, and the ultra-relativistic electrons travel through self-generated electromagnetic fields as large as 10^7 - 10^8 gauss. This results into the production of a collimated gamma-ray pulse with peak brilliance above 10^25 photons s^-1 mrad^-2 mm^-2 per 0.1% bandwidth, photon energies ranging from 200 keV to GeV, and up to 60% electron-to-photon energy conversion efficiency. In addition to their intrinsic interest for reproducing astrophysical phenomena in the laboratory, these findings pave the way to novel investigations in strong-field QED and nuclear physics such as the interaction between real photons in vacuum. |
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