Observation of quantum effects on radiation reaction in strong fields

Résumé fourni par la source

Radiation reaction describes the effective force experienced by an accelerated charge due to radiation emission. Quantum effects dominate charge dynamics and radiation production for charges accelerated by fields with strengths approaching the Schwinger field, Esch = 1.3 × 1018 Vm-1. Such fields exist in extreme astrophysical environments such as pulsar magnetospheres, may be accessed by high-power laser systems, dense particle beams interacting with plasma, crystals, and at the interaction point of next generation particle colliders. We report the first direct, high significance (> 5σ) observation of strong-field radiation reaction on charged particles. We compare the relative validity of a classical model, a quantum-continuous model and a quantum-stochastic model using a novel Baysian inference framework. We obtain strong evidence favouring the quantum radiation reaction models, which perform equivalently, over the classical model.

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