Suppression of pair beam instabilities in a laboratory analogue of blazar pair cascades
Abstract
The generation of dense electron–positron pair beams in the laboratory can enable direct tests of theoretical models of γ -ray bursts and active galactic nuclei. We have successfully achieved this using ultrarelativistic protons accelerated by the Super Proton Synchrotron at CERN. In the first application of this experimental platform, the stability of the pair beam is studied as it propagates through a meter-length plasma, analogous to TeV γ -ray-induced pair cascades in the intergalactic medium. It has been argued that pair beam instabilities disrupt the cascade, thus accounting for the observed lack of reprocessed GeV emission from TeV blazars. If true, this would remove the need for a moderate strength intergalactic magnetic field to explain the observations. We find that the pair beam instability is suppressed if the beam is not perfectly collimated or monochromatic, hence the lower limit to the intergalactic magnetic field inferred from γ -ray observations of blazars is robust.
Article Details
Journal Info
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences
Authors (31)
Charles D. Arrowsmith
Department of Physics
Francesco Miniati
Department of Physics
Pablo J. Bilbao
GoLP/Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear
Pascal Simon
European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)
Archie F. A. Bott
Department of Physics
Stephane Burger
European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)
Hui Chen
Filipe D. Cruz
GoLP/Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear
Tristan Davenne
Science and Technology Facilities Council Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Anthony Dyson
Department of Physics
Ilias Efthymiopoulos
European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)
Dustin H. Froula
University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics
Alice Goillot
European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)
Jon T. Gudmundsson
Science Institute
Dan Haberberger
University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics
Jack W. D. Halliday
Department of Physics
Tom Hodge
Department of Physics
Brian T. Huffman
Department of Physics
Sam Iaquinta
Department of Physics
G. Marshall
AWE Nuclear Security Technologies
Brian Reville
Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik
Subir Sarkar
Department of Physics
Alexander A. Schekochihin
Department of Physics
Luis O. Silva
GoLP/Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear
Raspberry Simpson
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Vasiliki Stergiou
Department of Physics
Raoul M. G. M. Trines
Science and Technology Facilities Council Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Thibault Vieu
Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik
Nikolaos Charitonidis
European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)
Robert Bingham
Science and Technology Facilities Council Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Gianluca Gregori