arXiv subjects

Antonino Di Piazza

Publications and source records attributed to Antonino Di Piazza.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Renormalized perturbation theory in an intense background electromagnetic field

Quantum electrodynamics in strong background electromagnetic fields or strong-field QED (SFQED) has been investigated in great detail at the tree level. The study of SFQED at higher loops has not been carried out in a correspondingly systematic way, with the notable exception of strong background atomic fields. Here, we investigate the renormalization of SFQED by writing the standard unrenormalized SFQED Lagrangian density, which differs from the vacuum-QED Lagrangian density by the additional interaction term of the Dirac four-current density with the background four-vector potential, in terms of renormalized quantities and counterterms. Within this framework, we confirm the necessity of renormalizing the background field as an electric charge rather than as a photon field. We compare this approach with an alternative one which features a different renormalized Lagrangian density and we show that they are physically equivalent. As a byproduct, it will become clear that the renormalizability of SFQED directly derives from the renormalizability of vacuum QED. Also, we obtain that the renormalized SFQED Lagrangian density features a new counterterm as compared to the vacuum Lagrangian density. This counterterm is necessary to renormalize the electron self energy, which undergoes a new contribution as compared to vacuum QED, physically due to the electromagnetic field produced by the four-current density induced in the vacuum by the background electromagnetic field. The vacuum-induced electromagnetic field diverges and needs to be renormalized. We show how the renormalization of the vacuum-induced electromagnetic field is implemented explicitly at one loop and at two loops. The renormalization at all loops is shown to be more easily deduced at the level of the Lagrangian density. Finally, some subtleties concerning the renormalization procedure in the case of a free background field.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Enhancement of nonlinear pair production in a flying-focus pulse

A photon can decay into an electron-positron pair in the presence of an intense laser pulse by a process known as nonlinear Breit-Wheeler pair production (NBWPP). For a sufficiently intense pulse, the probability of NBWPP for a high-energy gamma photon scales more favorably with the interaction time than with the field intensity. In contrast to typical stationary-focus Gaussian (SFG) laser pulses, a flying-focus (FF) pulse features a focal point that moves at a programmable velocity. Here, we show that a FF pulse counterpropagating with a high-energy photon beam while its focus copropagates with the beam at the speed of light enhances the NBWPP yield relative to an equal-energy SFG pulse. Numerical simulations show that a Joule-class tightly-focused FF pulse allows for an enhancement of the pair-production yield by 12\%, 29\% and 76\% for a photon of 10, 20 and 50 GeV energy, respectively. Thus, in this regime, FF pulses are more efficient at producing electron-positron pairs than conventional SFG pulses.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Intrinsic Nonlocality of Spin- and Polarization-Resolved Probabilities in Strong-Field Quantum Electrodynamics

Spin and polarization are central to precision tests of fundamental physics and for interpreting radiation from astrophysical sources and ultraintense laser-matter experiments. Here, focusing on the fundamental process of nonlinear Compton scattering, we demonstrate that a key assumption underlying current strong-field quantum electrodynamics (SFQED) models, i.e., that emission can be treated as an instantaneous random event sampled from a local differential rate, is inconsistent once emission angles, electron spin, and/or photon polarization are resolved. Namely, even in strictly constant and uniform fields, the resulting fully differential distribution is sign-indefinite, yielding negative inferred probabilities. The physical reason is that the photon emission probability builds up over a finite length of the electron trajectory, the formation region, during which the electron direction changes by roughly the same small angle that defines the radiation cone. Therefore, we put forward a new method where we integrate over this formation region analytically to obtain a physically consistent electron spin and photon polarization model. Simulations of a GeV-class electron-laser collision accessible at current petawatt facilities and of emission in a pulsar-like magnetic field are shown to reveal spin and polarization patterns that differ even qualitatively from state-of-the-art local models. In particular, our new model predicts substantial angle-dependent circular photon polarization where the well-known collinear-emission approach yields none, and a pronounced helicity bias in the recoiling electrons absent from current predictions. These findings have direct implications for upcoming strong-field QED experiments and for interpreting polarized radiation from extreme astrophysical environments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Infrared behavior of the photon yield in nonlinear Compton scattering

Nonlinear Compton scattering is the process of emission of a single photon by a charge driven by an intense laser field. Here, we study the infrared behavior of the photon yield emitted via nonlinear Compton scattering. We first consider the idealized case of an electron in the presence of a plane wave and derive an analytical expression of the total yield in the form of a double integral over the laser phase. As it is known, the total yield is finite in the experimentally common case of a plane-wave laser field without a DC component whereas it diverges logarithmically in the complementary case of so-called unipolar fields. The divergence is found here to correspond to the longer-and-longer formation lengths of emitted photons with lower-and-lower frequency. Interestingly, we also find that the corrections to the Volkov states stemming from the fact that the field is unipolar cancel out in the computation of the probability of nonlinear Compton scattering, which is in agreement with the fact that in the classical limit the expression of the photon yield is independent on whether the plane wave is unipolar or not. Then, we pass to the more realistic case of an electron in a tightly-focused laser beam by assuming that the electron is ultrarelativistic. In this case we determine analytically the classical angular distribution of the yield of photons with an energy larger than a fixed value $\hbarω_m$ as a double integral over the electron's trajectory. After obtaining also the corresponding quantum expression of the angular distribution of the photon yield within the quasiclassical approximation, we determine analytically the leading-order quantum correction, which scales as $\hbarω_m/\varepsilon$, where $\varepsilon$ is the initial electron energy.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Nonlinear Compton scattering in a frequency-modulated field

When an electron is accelerated, it emits radiation. In the relativistic quantum realm the elementary radiation process is the emission of a single photon, a process known as nonlinear Compton scattering in the case of an electron moving in the presence of a strong electromagnetic wave. This process is typically described within the Furry picture, where the electromagnetic wave is described as a classical background field and the electron-positron field is quantized in the presence of that background field. Equivalently one can quantize the electron-positron field in the vacuum but then the photon emission process is described as a transition from an initial state to a final state both featuring, apart from the electron (the initial state) and the electron and the photon (the final state), the same coherent state of photons appropriately related to the electromagnetic wave. Here, we consider a more general situation where the initial and the final state feature the same squeezed coherent state. Then, we specialize to the case where the coherent state corresponds to a plane-wave field and the mostly populated modes of the coherent state are also squeezed. We show that, when quantum fluctuations induced by the squeezing in the coherent field are negligible, a condition well satisfied at available squeezing levels, the squeezing effects effectively reduce to a frequency modulation of the plane-wave field corresponding to the coherent state. By means of numerical examples we show that at already available squeezing levels the emission spectrum of nonlinear Compton scattering and the total photon yield can be altered significantly. Analytical explanations of the main numerical results are also provided.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Exact solution of the DeWitt-Brehme-Hobbs equation in copropagating electromagnetic and gravitational waves

An accelerated charge interacts with its own electromagnetic field, a phenomenon known as electromagnetic radiation reaction. The DeWitt-Brehme-Hobbs (DWBH) equation describes the motion of a charged mass in the presence of combined electromagnetic and gravitational fields, taking into account electromagnetic radiation-reaction effects. Here, we find the first exact analytical solution of the DWBH equation in the case of a charged mass in the presence of copropagating and otherwise arbitrary electromagnetic and gravitational plane waves. As a consequence of the Penrose limit, the scenario considered here can be seen as a local limit around ultrarelativistic trajectories in a general curved spacetime. Finally, the paradigmatic example of an electromagnetic wave in the presence of a constant-amplitude gravitational wave is worked out explicitly and it is shown how the presence of the gravitational wave can qualitatively change electromagnetic radiation-reaction effects.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2026

Observation of quantum effects on radiation reaction in strong fields

Radiation reaction, the force experienced by an accelerated charge due to radiation emission, has long been the subject of extensive theoretical and experimental research. Experimental verification of a quantum, strong-field description of radiation reaction is fundamentally important, and has wide-ranging implications for astrophysics, laser-driven particle acceleration, next-generation particle colliders and inverse-Compton photon sources for medical and industrial applications. However, the difficulty of accessing regimes where strong field and quantum effects dominate inhibited previous efforts to observe quantum radiation reaction in charged particle dynamics with high significance. We report the first high significance (> 5σ) observation of strong-field radiation reaction on electron spectra where quantum effects are substantial. We obtain the first, quantitative, strong evidence favouring the quantum-continuous and quantum-stochastic models over the classical model; the quantum models perform comparably. The lower electron energy losses predicted by the quantum models accounts for their improved performance. Model comparison was performed using a novel Bayesian framework which has widespread utility for laser-particle collision experiments, including those utilising conventional accelerators, where some collision parameters cannot be measured directly.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Structured Light at the Extreme: Harnessing Spatiotemporal Control for High-Field Laser-Matter Interactions

This review charts the emerging paradigm of intelligent structured light for high-field laser-matter interactions, where the precise spatiotemporal and vectorial control of light is a critical degree of freedom. We outline a transformative framework built upon three synergistic pillars. First, we survey the advanced electromagnetic toolkit, moving beyond conventional spatial light modulators to include robust static optics and the promising frontier of plasma light modulators. Second, we detail the optimization engine for this high-dimensional design space, focusing on physics-informed digital twins and AI-driven inverse design to automate the discovery of optimal light structures. Finally, we explore the groundbreaking applications enabled by this integrated approach, including programmable electron beams, orbital-angular-momentum-carrying γ-rays, compact THz accelerators, and robust communications. The path forward necessitates overcoming grand challenges in material science, real-time adaptive control at MHz rates, and the extension of these principles to the quantum realm. This review serves as a call to action for a coordinated, interdisciplinary effort to command, rather than merely observe, light-matter interactions at the extreme.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Enhanced quantum radiation with flying-focus laser pulses

The emission of a photon by an electron in an intense laser field is one of the most fundamental processes in electrodynamics and underlies the many applications that utilize high-energy photon beams. This process is typically studied for electrons colliding head-on with a stationary-focus laser pulse. Here, we show that the energy lost by electrons in the quantum regime and the yield of emitted photons can be substantially increased by replacing a stationary-focus pulse with an equal-energy flying-focus pulse whose focus co-propagates with the electrons. These advantages of the flying focus result from the energy loss and the photon yield scaling more favorably with the interaction time than the laser intensity in the quantum regime, with the latter also holding in the classical regime. Monte Carlo simulations of electrons colliding with equal-energy stationary and flying-focus laser pulses demonstrate these advantages.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Broadband coherent XUV light from $e^-/e^+$ microbunching in an intense laser pulse

Attosecond pulses of coherent extreme ultraviolet (XUV) light are instrumental for investigating subatomic dynamics and can be produced using a free-electron laser (FEL). It has been suggested that an optical FEL, which employs a laser pulse in place of a conventional undulator, could enable a dramatically more compact implementation of such a light source. Yet, the high electron density and subsequent high emittance implied by an optical FEL makes this concept challenging to realize with an electron beam. There has been impressive progress in recent years producing collimated dense and relativistic beams of electrons and positrons in the laboratory. As we demonstrate here, the inherent stability of a quasi-neutral electron-positron beam mitigates Coulomb expansion, and renders it a promising alternative source of coherent light. Specifically, we show via computer simulations that broadband coherent light in the XUV domain, which takes the form of 8-as pulses at 92-as intervals, can be generated by microbunching of relativistic electrons and positrons in a laser pulse. This process occurs over a sub-millimeter length scale, enabling the development of light sources which are orders-of-magnitude more compact than existing sources, with potential applications in physics, chemistry, biology, and industry.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2025

Effect of interparticle fields and radiation reaction on beam dynamics

The dynamics of relativistic particles in an intense electromagnetic field can be described by the Landau-Lifshitz (LL) equation, where the adiation reaction (RR) is accounted for via a self-force, and interparticle fields are often neglected as an approximation. However, the inclusion of interparticle fields is necessary to ensure energy-momentum conservation, particularly during coherent emission. Here we present (i) an analytical proof showing that the energy-momentum conservation law of the Hamilton-Rohrlich-Dirac action, which is divergence free and describes a generic system of interacting charges, respects causality and provides physically sensible results; (ii) a simple generalization of the LL equation for many particles evaluated as a function of the total field, i.e., the sum of the external and interparticle fields. By performing first-principles numerical simulations of a neutral, relativistic bunch of electrons and positrons ($e^-/e^+$) colliding with a laser pulse, this theory is shown to satisfy energy-momentum conservation when interparticle fields and RR are simultaneously taken into account; and (iii) the combined effect of interparticle fields and RR primarily affects the tail of the particle energy distribution. Additionally, our first-principles simulations show that the effect of interparticle fields on beam energy loss becomes smaller when most of the radiated energy is incoherent.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2025

Coherent frequency combs from electrons colliding with a laser pulse

Highly coherent and powerful light sources capable of generating soft x-ray frequency combs are essential for high precision measurements and rigorous tests of fundamental physics. In this work, we derive the analytical conditions required for the emission of coherent radiation from an electron beam colliding with a laser pulse, modeled as a plane wave. These conditions are applied in a series of numerical simulations, where we show that a soft x-ray frequency comb can be produced if the electrons are regularly spaced and sufficiently monoenergetic. High quality beams of this kind may be produced in the near future from laser-plasma interactions or linear accelerators. Furthermore, we highlight the advantageous role of employing few-cycle laser pulses in relaxing the stringent monoenergeticity requirements for coherent emission. The conditions derived here can also be used to optimize coherent emission in other frequency ranges, such as the terahertz domain.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Design Initiative for a 10 TeV pCM Wakefield Collider

This document outlines a community-driven Design Study for a 10 TeV pCM Wakefield Accelerator Collider. The 2020 ESPP Report emphasized the need for Advanced Accelerator R\&D, and the 2023 P5 Report calls for the ``delivery of an end-to-end design concept, including cost scales, with self-consistent parameters throughout." This Design Study leverages recent experimental and theoretical progress resulting from a global R\&D program in order to deliver a unified, 10 TeV Wakefield Collider concept. Wakefield Accelerators provide ultra-high accelerating gradients which enables an upgrade path that will extend the reach of Linear Colliders beyond the electroweak scale. Here, we describe the organization of the Design Study including timeline and deliverables, and we detail the requirements and challenges on the path to a 10 TeV Wakefield Collider.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2025

Nonlinear Compton scattering and nonlinear Breit-Wheeler pair production including the damping of particle states

In the presence of an electromagnetic background plane-wave field, electron, positron, and photon states are not stable, because electrons and positrons emit photons and photons decay into electron-positron pairs. This decay of the particle states leads to an exponential damping term in the probabilities of single nonlinear Compton scattering and nonlinear Breit-Wheeler pair production. In this paper we investigate analytically and numerically the probabilities of nonlinear Compton scattering and nonlinear Breit-Wheeler pair production including the particle states' decay. For this we first compute spin- and polarization-resolved expressions of the probabilities, provide some of their asymptotic behaviors and show that the results of the total probabilities are independent of the spin and polarization bases. Then, we present several plots of the total and differential probabilities for different pulse lengths and for different spin and polarization quantum numbers. We observe that it is crucial to take into account the damping of the states in order for the probabilities to stay always below unity and we show that the damping factors also scale with the intensity and pulse duration of the background field. In the case of nonlinear Compton scattering we show numerically that the total probability behaves like a Poissonian distribution in the regime where the photon recoil is negligible. In all considered cases, the kinematic conditions are such that the final particles momenta transverse to the propagation direction of the plane wave are always much smaller than the particles longitudinal momenta and the main spread of the momentum distribution on the transverse plane is along the direction of the plane-wave electric field.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Radiation by a laser-driven flying-focus electron wave packet

An exact solution of the Dirac equation in the presence of an arbitrary electromagnetic plane wave is found, which corresponds to a focused electron wave packet, with the focus of the wave packet moving at the speed of light in the opposite direction of the average momentum of the electron wave packet (unless the plane wave is so intense to reflect the electron). The photon spectrum emitted by such an electron wave packet in the presence of a linearly-polarized plane wave is studied both analytically and numerically. The spectrum is also compared with the one emitted by a single-momentum, plane-wave electron in the case of the electron being initially counter-propagating (on average for the flying-focus case) with the plane wave and within the locally-constant field approximation. It is found that if the electron flying-focus wave packet is focused beyond a Compton wavelength, the angular distribution of the emitted radiation along the magnetic field of the electromagnetic plane wave is broader than for an electron with definite momentum. Corresponding the maximum value of the photon yield on the transverse plane is smaller in the flying-focus electron case. This could represent an experimental signature of a laser-driven flying-focus electron wave packet.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Dynamics, quantum states and Compton scattering in nonlinear gravitational waves

The classical dynamics and the construction of quantum states in a plane wave curved spacetime are examined, paying particular attention to the similarities with the case of an electromagnetic plane wave in flat spacetime. A natural map connecting the dynamics of a particle in the Rosen metric and the motion of a charged particle in an electromagnetic plane wave is unveiled. We then discuss how this map can be translated into the quantum description by exploiting the large number of underlying symmetries. We examine the complete analogy between Volkov solutions and fermion states in the Rosen chart and properly extend this to massive vector bosons. We finally report the squared S-matrix element of Compton scattering in a sandwich plane wave spacetime in the form of a two-dimensional integral.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Signatures of vacuum birefringence in low-power flying focus pulses

Vacuum birefringence produces a differential phase between orthogonally polarized components of a weak electromagnetic probe in the presence of a strong electromagnetic field. Despite representing a hallmark prediction of quantum electrodynamics, vacuum birefringence remains untested in pure light configurations due to the extremely large electromagnetic fields required for a detectable phase difference. Here, we exploit the programmable focal velocity and extended focal range of a flying focus laser pulse to substantially lower the laser power required for detection of vacuum birefringence. In the proposed scheme, a linearly polarized x-ray probe pulse counter-propagates with respect to a flying focus pulse, whose focus moves at the speed of light in the same direction as the x-ray probe. The peak intensity of the flying focus pulse overlaps the probe over millimeter-scale distances and induces a polarization ellipticity on the order of $10^{-10}$, which lies within the detection sensitivity of existing x-ray polarimeters.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Charged particle beam transport in a flying focus pulse with orbital angular momentum

We demonstrate the capability of Flying Focus (FF) laser pulses with $\ell = 1$ orbital angular momentum (OAM) to transversely confine ultra-relativistic charged particle bunches over macroscopic distances while maintaining a tight bunch radius. A FF pulse with $\ell = 1$ OAM creates a radial ponderomotive barrier that constrains the transverse motion of particles and travels with the bunch over extended distances. As compared to freely propagating bunches, which quickly diverge due to their initial momentum spread, the particles co-traveling with the ponderomotive barrier slowly oscillate around the laser pulse axis within the spot size of the pulse. This can be achieved at FF pulse energies that are orders of magnitude lower than required by Gaussian or Bessel pulses with OAM. The ponderomotive trapping is further enhanced by radiative cooling of the bunch resulting from rapid oscillations of the charged particles in the laser field. This cooling decreases the mean square radius and emittance of the bunch during propagation.

physics.plasm-ph↗