Strong laser fields as a probe for fundamental physics
arXiv:0812.0668 · doi:10.1140/epjd/e2009-00006-0
Abstract
Upcoming high-intensity laser systems will be able to probe the quantum-induced nonlinear regime of electrodynamics. So far unobserved QED phenomena such as the discovery of a nonlinear response of the quantum vacuum to macroscopic electromagnetic fields can become accessible. In addition, such laser systems provide for a flexible tool for investigating fundamental physics. Primary goals consist in verifying so far unobserved QED phenomena. Moreover, strong-field experiments can search for new light but weakly interacting degrees of freedom and are thus complementary to accelerator-driven experiments. I review recent developments in this field, focusing on photon experiments in strong electromagnetic fields. The interaction of particle-physics candidates with photons and external fields can be parameterized by low-energy effective actions and typically predict characteristic optical signatures. I perform first estimates of the accessible new-physics parameter space of high-intensity laser facilities such as POLARIS and ELI.
7 pages, Key Lecture at the ELI Workshop and School on "Fundamental Physics with Ultra-High Fields", 9 September - 2 October 2008 at Frauenworth Monastery, Germany
References in corpus (17)
- Tests of the Gravitational Inverse-Square Law below the Dark-Energy Length Scale
- Particle Physics Implications of a Recent Test of the Gravitational Inverse Square Law
- Dynamically assisted Schwinger mechanism
- New PVLAS results and limits on magnetically induced optical rotation and ellipticity in vacuum
- Search for axion-like particles using a variable baseline photon regeneration technique
- The Need for Purely Laboratory-Based Axion-Like Particle Searches
- No light shining through a wall : new results from a photoregeneration experiment
- Laser experiments explore the hidden sector
- Light from the Hidden Sector
- On the Particle Interpretation of the PVLAS Data: Neutral versus Charged Particles
- New bounds on millicharged particles from cosmology
- Reconciling the CAST and PVLAS Results
- Hidden in the Light: Magnetically Induced Afterglow from Trapped Chameleon Fields
- Light scalars coupled to photons and non-newtonian forces
- Anomaly induced effects in a magnetic field
- External Fields as a Probe for Fundamental Physics
- A simple explanation of the PVLAS anomaly in spontaneously broken mirror models