Umeå University's logo

Here we consider the influence on the electron spin in the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) regime. Recently developed models that include spin-velocity correlations are taken as the starting point. A theoretical argument is presented, suggesting that in the MHD regime a single-fluid electron model with spin correlations is equivalent to a model with spin-up and spin-down electrons constituting different fluids, but where the spin-velocity correlations are omitted. Three-wave interaction of two shear Alfven waves and a compressional Alfven wave is then taken as a model problem to evaluate the asserted equivalence. The theoretical argument turns out to be supported, because the predictions of the two models agree completely. Furthermore, the three-wave coupling coefficients obey the Manley-Rowe relations, which further support the soundness of the models and the validity of the assumptions made in the derivation. Finally, we point out that the proposed two-fluid model can be incorporated in standard particle-in-cell schemes with only minor modifications.

Current high-intensity laser sources offer a multitude of research, experiment and application possibilities, ranging from e. g. ionisation studies of atomic and molecular systems to particle acceleration for medical purposes. Planned upgrades of existing laser sources will further increase the deliverable intensities and make certain low-intensity (as compared to the Schwinger field) tests of quantum electrodynamics viable. Moreover, secondary sources of radiation, and planned future facilities, offer several-orders-of-magnitude increases in intensities. Thus, it is highly relevant to ask what kind of physics that may be probed using future light sources.

We have considered linear kinetic theory, including the electron-spin properties in a magnetized plasma. The starting point is a mean-field Vlasov-like equation, derived from a fully quantum-mechanical treatment, where effects from the electron-spin precession and the magnetic dipole force are taken into account. The general conductivity tensor is derived, including both the free current contribution and the magnetization current associated with the spin contribution. We conclude the paper with an extensive discussion of the quantummechanical boundary where we list parameter conditions that must be satisfied for various quantum effects to be influential.

We consider high field physics due to quantum electrodynamics, in particular those that can be studied in the next generation of laser facilities. Effective field theories based on the Euler-Heisenberg Lagrangian are briefly reviewed, and examples involving plasma- and vacuum physics are given.

The theory of quantum electrodynamics (QED) was born out of an attempt to merge Einsteins theory of special relativity and quantum mechanics. Einsteins energy/mass equivalence together with Heisenberg's uncertainty principle allows for particle pairs to be spontaneously created and annihilated in vacuum. These spontaneous fluctuations gives the quantum vacuum properties analogous to that of a nonlinear medium. Although these fluctuations in general does not give note of themselves, effects due to their presence can be stimulated or enhanced through external means, such as boundary conditions or electromagnetic fields. Whereas QED has been very well tested in the high-energy, low-intensity regime using particle accelerators, the opposite regime where the photon energy is low but instead the intensity is high is still to a large degree not investigated. This is expected to change with the rapid progress of modern high-power laser-systems.

In this thesis we begin by studying the QED effect of photon-photon scattering. This process has so far not been successfully verified experimentally, but we show that this may change already with present day laser powers. We also study QED effects due to strong magnetic fields. In particular, we obtain an analytical description for vacuum birefringence valid at arbitrary field strengths. Astrophysics already offer environments where QED processes may be influential, e.g. in neutron star and magnetar environments. For astrophysical purposes we investigate how effects of QED can be implemented in plasma models. In particular, we study QED dispersive effects due to weak rapidly oscillating fields, nonlinear effects due to slowly varying strong fields, as well as QED effects in strongly magnetized plasmas. Effects of quantum dispersion and the electron spin has also been included in an extended plasma description, of particular interest for dense and/or strongly magnetized systems.

We review the effects of strong background fields in noncommutative QED. Beginning with the noncommutative Maxwell and Dirac equations, we describe how combined noncommutative and strong field effects modify the propagation of fermions and photons. We extend these studies beyond the case of constant backgrounds by giving a new and revealing interpretation of the photon dispersion relation. Considering scattering in background fields, we then show that the noncommutative photon is primarily responsible for generating deviations from strong field QED results. Finally, we propose a new method for constructing gauge invariant variables in noncommutative QED, and use it to analyse the physics of our null background fields.

A new explicit analytical form of the dispersion relation for photon propagation in the presence of a strong background magnetic field is derived within the effective action framework. The dispersion relation is expressed in terms of well-known special functions, and the treatment is exact within the linearization procedure, the one-loop approximation, and the soft photon approximation. The results are incorporated in a kinetic spin plasma description for the purpose of studying quantum electrodynamical effects of strongly magnetized plasmas. The results are applied to astrophysical examples.

The capability to produce high field strengths, and thereby obtain a new means for doing fundamental physics, has over the last thirty years taken great leaps forward. Both superconducting cavities as well ultra-intense lasers can now reach field strengths of the order 50 MV/m (stationary) and 10¹² V/m (peak value, time-dependent field), respectively. Here we will describe a collection of problems that catches the flavor of the nonlinear quantum vacuum and the possibility to use high field strengths as a low-energy probe of fundamental physics.

The quantum vacuum constitutes a fascinating medium of study, in particular since near-future laser facilities will be able to probe the nonlinear nature of this vacuum. There has been a large number of proposed tests of the low-energy, high intensity regime of quantum electrodynamics (QED) where the nonlinear aspects of the electromagnetic vacuum come into play, and we will here give a short description of some of these. Such studies can shed light, not only on the validity of QED, but also on certain aspects of nonperturbative effects, and thus also give insights for quantum field theories in general.

The Jeans instability is analyzed for dense magnetohydrodynamic plasmas with intrinsic magnetization, the latter due to collective electron spin effects. Furthermore, the effects of electron tunneling as well as the Fermi pressure are included. It is found that the intrinsic magnetization of the plasma will enhance the Jeans instability, and can significantly modify the structure of the instability spectra. Implications and limitations of our results are discussed, as well as possible generalizations.