Suppression of pair beam instabilities in a laboratory analogue of blazar pair cascades
The generation of dense electron-positron pair beams in the laboratory can enable direct tests of theoretical models of <i>γ</i>-ray bursts and active galactic nuclei. We have successfully achieved this using ultrarelativistic protons accelerated by the Super Proton Synchrotron at CERN. In the first application of this experimental platform, the stability of the pair beam is studied as it propagates through a meter-length plasma, analogous to TeV <i>γ</i>-ray-induced pair cascades in the intergalactic medium. It has been argued that pair beam instabilities disrupt the cascade, thus accounting for the observed lack of reprocessed GeV emission from TeV blazars. If true, this would remove the need for a moderate strength intergalactic magnetic field to explain the observations. We find that the pair beam instability is suppressed if the beam is not perfectly collimated or monochromatic, hence the lower limit to the intergalactic magnetic field inferred from <i>γ</i>-ray observations of blazars is robust.
Authors
- A. Dyson
- Brian Reville (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3778-1432)
- Vasiliki Stergiou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3341-904X)
- Jack Halliday (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1842-9393)
- S. Sarkar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3542-858X)
- Pablo J. Bilbao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1841-4397)
- Jón Tómas Guðmundsson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8153-3209)
- Thibault Vieu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9124-6203)
- Raspberry Simpson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0097-1136)
- T. Davenne
- G. Gregori (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4153-0628)
- A. A. Schekochihin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4421-1128)
- Filipe D. Cruz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5384-4288)
- L. O. Silva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2906-924X)
- Gerald F. Marshall
- Charles Arrowsmith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6186-2227)
- Francesco Miniati (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5058-5276)
- R. M. G. M. Trines (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2553-0289)
- R. Bingham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9843-7635)
- D. H. Froula (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6981-3956)
- I. Efthymiopoulos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9237-4015)
- D. Haberberger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5909-0149)
- A. F. A. Bott (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8071-3083)
- P. Simon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2575-3730)
- N. Charitonidis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9506-1022)
- Alice Goillot
- Sam Iaquinta
- Hui Chen
- Brian T. Huffman
- Stephane Burger
- Tom Hodge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-1415-5990)
Institutions
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US)
- Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (GB)
- University of Lisbon (PT)
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (GB)
- University of Iceland (IS)
- GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research (DE)
- National Technical University of Athens (GR)
- University of Strathclyde (GB)
- AWE Nuclear Security Technologies (GB)
- Department of Space (IN)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Plasma (Russia) (RU)
- Helmholtz Institute Mainz (DE)
- Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (DE)
- National Security Technologies (United States) (US)
- Instituto Superior Técnico (PT)
- University of Rochester (US)
- European Organization for Nuclear Research (CH)
- KTH Royal Institute of Technology (SE)
- Applied Energetics (United States) (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2025-11-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2513365122
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.87