Related papers: Relativistic Spacecraft Propelled by Directed Ener…
A high-intensity laser pulse propagating through a medium triggers an ionization front that can accelerate and frequency-upshift the photons of a second pulse. The maximum upshift is ultimately limited by the accelerated photons outpacing…
The kinetic effects of magnetic fields on the transport of relativistic jet in the intergalactic medium remain uncertain, especially for their perpendicular component. By particle-in-cell simulations, we find that when only jet electrons…
The problem under consideration is to drive a spatial vehicle to a target at a given final time while minimizing fuel consumption. This is a classical optimal control problem in a deterministic setting. However temporary stochastic failures…
The current paradigm foresees that relativistic jets are launched as magnetically dominated flows, whose magnetic power is progressively converted to kinetic power of of the matter of the jet, until equipartition is reached. Therefore, at…
Relativistic jets are observed throughout the Universe, strongly impacting their surrounding environments on all physical scales, from Galactic binary systems to galaxies and galaxy clusters. An important avenue to understand the formation…
Laser has become a powerful tool to manipulate micro-particles and atoms by radiation pressure force or photophoretic force, but optical manipulation is less noticeable for large objects. Optically-induced negative forces have been proposed…
Dust grains may be accelerated to relativistic speeds by radiation pressure, diffusive shocks, and other acceleration mechanisms. Such relativistic grains have been suggested as primary particles of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). In…
The "Breakthrough Starshot" program is planning to send transrelativistic probes to travel to nearby stellar systems within decades. Since the probe velocity is designed to be a good fraction of the light speed, \citet{zha18} recently…
We study the dynamics of an Airy wavepacket moving in a one-dimensional lattice potential. In contrast to the usual case of propagation in a continuum, for which such a wavepacket experiences a uniform acceleration, the lattice bounds its…
This work investigates the feasibility and design trade-offs for a companion spacecraft, or PaddleSat, to charge a host spacecraft by wirelessly transmitting power using a directional laser system. The primary goal of the PaddleSat is to…
Relativistic accretors are cosmic objects that pull matter from their surroundings at speeds almost equal to the light's speed. Because of the tremendous gravitational force from the accretors and the angular momentum of infalling material,…
Recent research has proposed that advanced propulsion mechanisms such as warp drives are more physically feasible than previously thought, using positive energy sources potentially sourced by known classical physics. Motivated by this, we…
The fact that we apparently live in an accelerating universe places limitations on where humans might visit. If the current energy density of the universe is dominated by a cosmological constant, a rocket could reach a galaxy observed today…
The Breakthrough Starshot project aims to send a tiny 2 gram spacecraft to Proxima Centauri propelled by a light sail and powerful Earth-based lasers. We provide two derivations of the laser energy required to propel the spacecraft and give…
We explore the possibility that extragalactic radio jets might be accelerated by highly disorganized magnetic fields that are strong enough to dominate the dynamics until the terminal Lorentz factor is reached. Following the twin-exhaust…
Relativistic aberration influences apparent luminosities of objects moving with relativistic relative velocities. The superluminosity or dimming of incoming or receding jets ejected from Active Galactic Nuclei is believed to be the…
The joint ESA/NASA LISA mission consists in three spacecraft on heliocentric orbits, flying in a triangular formation of 5 Mkm each side, linked by infrared optical beams. The aim of the mission is to detect gravitational waves in a low…
We present here a method for the relativistic positioning in spacetime based on the reception of pulses from sources of electromagnetic signals whose worldline is known. The method is based on the use of a four-dimensional grid covering the…
Radiation Pressure Acceleration relies on high intensity laser pulse interacting with solid target to obtain high maximum energy, quasimonoenergetic ion beams. Either extremely high power laser pulses or tight focusing of laser radiation is…
The "Breakthrough Starshot" aims at sending near-speed-of-light cameras to nearby stellar systems in the future. Due to the relativistic effects, a trans-relativistic camera naturally serves as a spectrograph, a lens, and a wide-field…