An effective field theory approach to Compton scattering in plasma

We study Compton scattering in plasma medium via an effective field theory, by incorporating the contributions of longitudinal as well as transverse permittivities with their temperature dependent dispersive terms. We show that the introduction of the longitudinal mode not only increases the cross-section many-fold than in the case of vacuum, but also leads as a consequence to a well collimated and mono-energetic spectrum of scattered electrons, with the divergence ∼6 mrad∼6 mrad, suggesting that this approach has potential application to laser plasma accelerators.

► Compton scattering with longitudinal mode in plasma increases the cross-section many fold than Klein–Nishina. ► Such scattering leads to the emergence of mono-energetic and collimated electron beam spectrum. ► Force on the electron is found to be ∼60 MV/cm∼60 MV/cm which is near to the values found in Laser Plasma Accelerator experiments. ► Such approach has potential usefulness in Laser Plasma accelerator (LPA) concepts.