Quantum Electrodynamics with Thermal Radiation Fields

The subject of this PhD project is to explore how thermal radiation fields generated by high-power lasers can be used to investigate the fundamental physics of the interaction between photons, electrons and positrons (the subject of Quantum Electrodynamics - QED). Many experiments have been proposed and undertaken that use ultra-intense laser radiation to investigate these effects where the electrons and positrons interact directly with the laser radiation. However there is a category of experiments that use lasers to create thermal (or quasi-thermal) radiation fields that can be used to investigate QED processes which are of interest in astrophysics, cosmology and also of fundamental interest and it this topic that is the subject of the project.

The project will involve extending recent theoretical work on electron-positron pair production from a thermal radiation field generated directly by a laser and generated by a burning thermonuclear plasma. It will involve calculating the electron-positron production process using new theoretical and numerical techniques. These will allow a more complete understanding of the interaction between photons in a thermal radiation field involving the production of electrons and positrons by multiple photons. These techniques should give a clearer understanding of the processes that generated electrons and positrons from the ultra-high temperature radiation field in the early Universe The project will also involve the design of new high-power laser experiments that demonstrate and test the predictions of these new techniques.

The project spans theoretical quantum electrodynamics, atomic physics, plasma physics, astrophysics and cosmology as well as requiring an understanding of experimental possibilities using high-power lasers. It will also have a major emphasis on state-of-the-art computing which will be needed to undertake the new calculations that will be developed.