Light-front approach to relativistic electrodynamics

TL;DR

This paper presents a light-front approach to simplify relativistic electrodynamics calculations involving intense electromagnetic fields, applicable to extreme acceleration scenarios in plasma physics and laser interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel light-front coordinate method that streamlines analysis of relativistic EM phenomena with intense fields and static components.

Findings

Simplifies calculations of relativistic electrodynamics with intense EM fields.

Applicable to plasma interactions with short, intense laser pulses.

Facilitates analysis of extreme acceleration phenomena like plasma wake-field acceleration.

Abstract

We illustrate how our recent light-front approach simplifies relativistic electrodynamics with an electromagnetic (EM) field $F^{\mu\nu}$ that is the sum of a (even very intense) plane travelling wave $F_t^{\mu\nu}(ct\!-\!z)$ and a static part $F_s^{\mu\nu}(x,y,z)$; it adopts the light-like coordinate $\xi=ct\!-\!z$ instead of time $t$ as an independent variable. This can be applied to several cases of extreme acceleration, both in vacuum and in a cold diluted plasma hit by a very short and intense laser pulse (slingshot effect, plasma wave-breaking and laser wake-field acceleration, etc.)