Magnetic field annihilation and charged particle acceleration in ultra-relativistic laser plasmas 5
π
i
= p
i,0
/m
e
c, respectively, and µ = m
e
/m
p
is the electron
to ion mass ratio. We assume that m
i
= m
p
.
Equation (12) can be written by using the d’Alembert
relationship, giving the solution of the Cauchy problem for
the wave equation, as
a
(
x,t
)
=
−ω
0e
Z
t−|x|/c
0
(
a
0,t
′
+π
e
p
1 +
[
a
(
0,t
′
)
+π
e
]
2
+µ
a
0,t
′
−π
i
p
1 +µ
2
[
a
(
0,t
′
)
−π
i
]
2
)
dt
′
+
2πeI
0
m
e
c
2
[|x | +θ(ct −|x|)(ct −|x|)]
−
eE
w
m
e
c
3
[
(
ct +x
)
θ
(
ct +x
)
+
(
ct −x
)
θ
(
ct −x
)
]
. (14)
To find the function a
(
0,t
)
we set x = 0 in
Equation
(14)
and differentiate it with respect to time t. The result
is an ordinary differential equation of the first order whose
solution is
Z
a
0
(
0,t
)
"
a
′
+π
e
p
1 +
(
a
′
+π
e
)
2
+µ
a
′
−π
i
p
1 +µ
2
(
a
′
−π
i
)
2
−
2πeI
0
m
e
c
2
ω
0e
−
2eE
w
m
e
c
2
ω
0e
−1
da
′
= −ω
0e
t. (15)
One may see from
Equation (15) that if the amplitude
of the electromagnetic wave is substantially large, E
w
>
4πen
0
l −π I
0
/c, there can be no steady state solution. In the
limit t → ∞ the electromagnetic potential at x = 0 grows
proportionally to time as
a
(
0,t
)
≈ −
et
m
e
c
h
E
w
−
π
c
(
4en
0
lc −I
0
)
i
. (16)
Consequently, the unlimited acceleration of charged parti-
cles occurs with the particle momentum growing as
p
z
(
0,t
)
≈ −et
h
E
w
−
π
c
(
4en
0
lc −I
0
)
i
. (17)
Substituting the function a
(
0,t
)
found from
Equation (15)
to (14) we obtain the expression describing the electromag-
netic field outside the current sheet. In the case of super-
strong electromagnetic field, when E
w
> 4π en
0
l−πI
0
/c, t he
electric field has a form of two almost constant waves with
the amplitude E
w
−4πen
0
l + π I
0
/c propagating outwards
in two directions. For the electromagnetic wave incident on
the current sheet with moderate amplitude, E
w
< 4π en
0
l −
πI
0
/c, the wave is reflected from the current sheet. In the
region | x |< ct the electr i c field vanishes and the magnetic
field is equal to B
y
=
(
B
0
+E
w
)
sgn(x). The momentum of
charged particles increases a finite value.
We note that the solution found here corresponds to the
paradigm of the thin foil nonlinear electrodynamics devel-
oped in Refs. [
89,91–94].
2.3. Tearing mode instability of thin current layer
The 2D dynamics of thin current sheet is considered within
the framework of the tearing mode instability concept. The
electromagnetic tearing mode instability of thin current sheet
has been studied in Refs. [
37,89,95–97]. The electromagnetic
field given by the vector A =
m
e
c
2
a/e
e
z
and electrostatic
potential ϕ = m
e
c
2
φ/e is governed by the equations
Wa =δ(x)J, (18)
Wϕ = δ(x)R, (19)
where W = ∂
xx
+∂
yy
−c
−2
∂
tt
is the d’Alambertian,
J = 4π
X
j=e,i
e
j
n
j
lv
z,j
/m
j
c
2
(20)
and
R = 4π
X
j=e,i
e
j
n
j
l/m
j
c
2
(21)
are the surface electric current and electric charge density,
respectively. Here it is assumed that the variables a and
ϕ depend on the coordinates x, y and time t. Lineariz-
ing Equations (
18) and (19) and presenting dependence of
the potentials on time and coordinates in the form a
(1)
=
a
(1)
(x) exp
(
−ωt +ikx
)
and ϕ
(1)
= ϕ
(1)
exp
(
−ωt +ikx
)
, we
can write the Equations (
18) and (19) as
d
2
a
(1)
dx
2
−Q
2
a
(1)
= δ(x)
J
a
a
(1)
+J
ϕ
ϕ
(1)
, (22)
d
2
ϕ
(1)
dx
2
−Q
2
ϕ
(1)
= δ(x)
R
a
a
(1)
+R
ϕ
ϕ
(1)
, (23)
with J
a
= ∂
a
J, J
ϕ
= ∂
ϕ
J, R
a
= ∂
a
R, and R
ϕ
= ∂
ϕ
R, where
Q =
p
k
2
−ω
2
/c
2
. (24)
The solution of Equations (
22) and (23) yields
a
(1)
(x) = −
exp
(
−Q|x|
)
2Q
J
a
a
(1)
(0) +J
ϕ
ϕ
(1)
(0)
, (25)
ϕ
(1)
(x) = −
exp
(
−Q|x|
)
2Q
R
a
a
(1)
(0) +R
ϕ
ϕ
(1)
(0)
. (26)
Setting x = 0 in both sides of Equations (
25) and (26) we
obtain the system of algebraic equations. The condition of