A platform to investigate collisionless pair beam-plasma instabilities at CERN

ORAL

Abstract

We report updates on a new experimental platform being developed at the HiRadMat facility at CERN. Beams of 440 GeV protons will be used to produce electron-positron pair beams, and a plasma cell used to study collisionless kinetic electron-positron beam-plasma instabilities. The experiment aims to reproduce in the laboratory, processes relevant to the propagation and stability of relativistic pair plasmas associated with extreme relativistic phenomena such as Gamma-ray Bursts. In fact, Weibel and oblique streaming instabilities are believed to drive the generation of magnetic fields, which are only indirectly inferred by the observed synchrotron emission. Here we present the results of an inductive radio-frequency plasma discharge which has been constructed to simulate the propagation of the pair beam through the interstellar medium. Measurements using a Langmuir probe have confirmed that the plasma cell parameters are well-suited to a laboratory study of beam-plasma instabilities of relativistic electron-positron beams. HiRadMat is ideally placed to provide a new platform for laboratory astrophysics.

*UK Ministry of Defence © Crown Owned Copyright 2022/AWE

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Publication: C. D. Arrowsmith, et al., Phys. Rev. Res. 3, 023103 (2021)

Presenters

  • Charles D Arrowsmith

    • University of Oxford

Authors

  • Charles D Arrowsmith

    • University of Oxford

  • Pascal Simon

    • European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)

  • Nikolaos Charitonidis

    • European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)

  • Raspberry A Simpson

    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology MI
    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Daniel J Haberberger

    • Lab for Laser Energetics
    • Laboratory for Laser Energetics

  • Pablo J Bilbao

    • GoLP/Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
    • Instituto Superior Técnico
    • Instituto Superior Tecnico

  • Tom Hodge

    • Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE)

  • Jon T Gudmundsson

    • University of Iceland

  • Jessica L Shaw

    • Laboratory for Laser Energetics
    • University of Rochester

  • Dustin Froula

    • University of Rochester
    • Laboratory for Laser Energetics
    • Laboratory for Laser Energetics, U. of Rochester
    • Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester

  • Hui Chen

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
    • LLNL

  • Luis O Silva

    • GoLP/Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
    • Instituto Superior Tecnico

  • Brian Reville

    • Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics
    • Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik
    • Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik

  • Subir Sarkar

    • University of Oxford

  • Raoul M Trines

    • Rutherford Appleton Lab
    • Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
    • Central Laser Facility, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, OX11 0QX, United Kingdom

  • Brian T Huffman

    • University of Oxford

  • Robert Bingham

    • University of Strathclyde
    • Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

  • Gianluca Gregori

    • University of Oxford