Laboratory gamma-ray pulsar

Andrei Gruzinov

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arXiv · 1404.4615

Laboratory gamma-ray pulsar

Andrei Gruzinov

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Abstract

The mechanism by which gamma-ray pulsars shine might be reproducible in a laboratory. This claim is supported by three observations: (i) properly focusing a few PW optical laser gives an electromagnetic field in the so-called Aristotelian regime, when a test electron is radiation-overdamped; (ii) the Goldreich-Julian number density of this electromagnetic field (the number density of elementary charges needed for a nearly full conversion of optical power into gamma-rays) is of order the electron number density in a solid; (iii) above about $50$PW, the external source of electrons is not needed -- charges will be created by a pair production avalanche.

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Andrei Gruzinov. 2014-04-15. Laboratory gamma-ray pulsar. https://arxiv.org/abs/1404.4615

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