Laboratory astroparticle physics

Abstract:

A robust and flexible architecture capable of providing real-time analysis on diagnostic data is of crucial importance to physics experiments. In this paper, we present such an online framework, used in June 2025 as part of the HRMT-68 experiment, performed at the HiRadMat facility at CERN, using the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) beam line. HRMT-68 was a fixed-target laboratory astrophysics experiment aiming to identify plasma instabilities generated by a relativistic electron-positron beam during traversal of an argon plasma. This framework was essential for experimental data acquisition and analysis, and can be adapted for a broad range of similar-scale experiments with a variety of experimental diagnostics, even those without a standard direct network communication interface. The developed framework’s customizable design enabled us to rapidly observe and extract emergent features from a diverse range of diagnostic data. Simultaneously, its modularity allowed for a quick introduction of new diagnostic devices and the modification of our analysis as features of interest were identified. As a result, we were able to effectively diagnose equipment malfunction, and infer the beam’s response to varying bunch duration, beam intensity, and the plasma state without resorting to offline analysis, at which time adjustment or improvement would have been impossible. We present the features of this agile framework, whose codebase we have made publicly available so that it may be adapted for future experiments with minimal modification.

Abstract:

Figure data relating to "A statistical theory of electronic degrees of freedom in wave packet molecular dynamics".  All data is in the format of .txt files.

Abstract:

Figure data relating to the main text of "Modeling partially-ionized dense plasma using wavepacket molecular dynamics". All data is in the format of .txt files.

Abstract:

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 a high significance ( > 5σ) observation of strong-field radiation reaction on electron spectra where quantum effects are substantial. We obtain 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 account 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.