Abstract Details
Potential Applications of Dense Pair Plasmas
Author: Edison P. Liang
Requested Type: Oral Only
Submitted: 2009-04-20 18:07:42
Co-authors: H. Chen, S. Wilks, T. Ditmire, B. Remington
Contact Info:
Rice University
6100 Main Street
Houston, TX 77005-1
USA
Abstract Text:
Recent experiments showed that electron-positron pairs with densities exceeding 10^16 cm^-3 can be created using ultra-intense lasers irradiating gold targets. Extrapolation to future multi-kJ short-pulse lasers predicts even higher pair densities. Here we discuss the potential applications of such high density pairs to both fundamental physics and astrophysics. One application is to create a Bose-Einstein Condensate of dense positronium at cryogenic temperatures, which is relevant to both fundamental physics and directed energy. Another application is to simulate high energy astrophysical phenomena in a laboratory setting. The microphysics of such dense pair plasmas, when coupled with a strong magnetic field, may be relevant to pulser wind nebulae, black hole accretion disks, blazar jets and gamma-ray bursts. We will discuss these widely different concepts and their prospective realization in the laboratory.
Comments:
please schedule this presentation during the last two days of the conference (5/21 or 5/22)