title: Ultrafast Synchrotron-Enhanced Thermalization of Laser-Driven Colliding Pair Plasmas.
abstract: We report on the first self-consistent numerical study of the feasibility of laser-driven relativistic pair shocks of prime interest for high-energy astrophysics. Using a QED-particle-in-cell code, we simulate the collective interaction between two counterstreaming electron-positron jets driven from solid foils by short-pulse (~60 fs), high-energy (~100 kJ) lasers. We show that the dissipation caused by self-induced, ultrastrong (>10^{6} T) electromagnetic fluctuations is amplified by intense synchrotron emission, which enhances the magnetic confinement and compression of the colliding jets.
authors.affiliation: CEA, DAM, DIF, F-91297, Arpajon, France.|CELIA, UMR 5107, Université de Bordeaux-CNRS-CEA, 33405, Talence.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lobet
authors.affiliation: CEA, DAM, DIF, F-91297, Arpajon, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ruyer
authors.affiliation: CEA, DAM, DIF, F-91297, Arpajon, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Debayle
authors.affiliation: CELIA, UMR 5107, Université de Bordeaux-CNRS-CEA, 33405, Talence.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: d'Humières
authors.affiliation: LULI, UMR 7605, CNRS-CEA-École Polytechnique-Université Paris VI, École Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grech
authors.affiliation: Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, UPMC, 98 bis boulevard Arago, F-75014 Paris, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lemoine
authors.affiliation: CEA, DAM, DIF, F-91297, Arpajon, France.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gremillet