Dimuon production by laser-wakefield accelerated electrons

TL;DR

This paper investigates the production of muon pairs by high-energy electrons from laser-wakefield accelerators hitting a high-Z target, providing estimates for current and future experimental setups and highlighting potential applications in muon physics.

Contribution

It presents numerical estimates for muon pair production via laser-accelerated electrons, emphasizing the dominance of bremsstrahlung photon reactions and potential for tabletop muon experiments.

Findings

A 20 pC, 1 GeV electron bunch can produce about 200 muon pairs.

A 10 GeV electron bunch can produce about 6000 muon pairs.

Muon pairs can be used for tabletop muon physics studies.

Abstract

We analyze $\mu^+\mu^-$ pair production generated by high-energy electrons emerging from a laser-wakefield accelerator. The $\mu^+\mu^-$ pairs are created in a solid thick high-$Z$ target, following the electron accelerating plasma region. Numerical estimates are presented for electron beams obtained presently in the LBL TW laser experiment \cite{C2} and possible future developments. Reactions induced by the secondary bremsstrahlung photons dominate the dimuon production. According to our estimates, a 20 pC electron bunch with energy of 1 (10) GeV may create about 200 (6000) muon pairs. The produced $\mu^\pm$ can be used in studying various aspects of muon-related physics in table top installations. This may be considered as an important step towards the investigation of more complicated elementary processes induced by laser driven electrons.