Multimode analysis of the hollow plasma channel accelerator
The hollow plasma channel is analyzed as an accelerating structure. The loss factors and mode frequencies are calculated for all azimuthal modes. Implications for plasma-based accelerator design are discussed, including beam loading, beam breakup, and tuning tolerances. The asymptotic growth of the transverse beam displacement is computed. Methods for beam breakup reduction are considered.

title: Generation of single pulse particle beams in a plasma channel by laser injection in laser wakefield accelerators
abstract: A laser injection mechanism that generates a single pulse, high quality beam is described. In the past, different all-optical injection schemes for the generation of ultrashort electron bunches were proposed. A very promising scheme proposed by E. Esarey [E. Esarey, R.F. Hubbard, W.P. Leemans A. Ting and P. Sprangle,"  (1997)] uses the collision of two counterpropagation laser pulses to inject particles. However, the results of ours 2D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations have shown that in addition to the bunch created by pulse collision, a train of pulses is also generated by a different mechanism. In this paper we show that is possible to achieve a single pulse, high quality beam if the generation of the plasma wakefield takes place in a channel and particles are injected by a phase-kick mechanism [J. Cary at this conference]. We have performed 2D PIC simulations of our proposed injection scheme using the code VORPAL [C. Nieter at this conference]. We have obtained a high quality 11 MeV., 6 fs. single electron bunch with energy spread of 4% and emittance of 0.01/spl pi/ - mm - mrad.

title: Optimized laser pulse profile for efficient radiation pressure acceleration of ions
abstract: The radiation pressure acceleration regime of laser ion acceleration requires high intensity laser pulses to function efficiently. Moreover, the foil should be opaque for incident radiation during the interaction to ensure maximum momentum transfer from the pulse to the foil, which requires proper matching of the target to the laser pulse. However, in the ultrarelativistic regime, this leads to large acceleration distances, over which the high laser intensity for a Gaussian laser pulse must be maintained. It is shown that proper tailoring of the laser pulse profile can significantly reduce the acceleration distance, leading to a compact laser ion accelerator, requiring less energy to operate.

title: Long-range persistence of femtosecond modulations on laser-plasma-accelerated electron beams.
abstract: Laser plasma accelerators have produced femtosecond electron bunches with a relative energy spread ranging from 100% to a few percent. Simulations indicate that the measured energy spread can be dominated by a correlated spread, with the slice spread significantly lower. Measurements of coherent optical transition radiation are presented for broad-energy-spread beams with laser-induced density and momentum modulations. The long-range (meter-scale) observation of coherent optical transition radiation indicates that the slice energy spread is below the percent level to preserve the modulations.

title: Design considerations for a laser‐plasma linear collider
abstract: Design considerations for a next‐generation electron‐positron linear collider based on laser‐plasma‐accelerators are discussed. Several of the advantages and challenges of laser‐plasma‐based accelerator technology are addressed. An example of the parameters for a 1 TeV laser‐plasma‐based collider is presented.

title: High Quality Electron Bunches up to 1 GeV from Laser Wakefield Acceleration at LBNL
abstract: Experiments at the LOASIS laboratory of LBNL have demonstrated production of 100 MeV to 1 GeV electron bunches with low energy spread and low divergence from laser wakefield acceleration. The radiation pressure of a 10 TW laser pulse, guided over 10 diffraction ranges by a few‐mm long plasma density channel, was used to drive an intense plasma wave (wakefield), producing electron bunches with energies on the order of 100 MeV and acceleration gradients on the order of 100 GV/m. Beam energy was increased from 100 MeV to 1 GeV by using a few‐cm long guiding channel at lower density, driven by a 40 TW laser, demonstrating the anticipated scaling to higher beam energies. Particle simulations indicate that the low energy spread beams were produced from self‐trapped electrons through the interplay of trapping, loading, and dephasing. Other experiments and simulations are also underway to control injection of particles into the wake, and hence improve beam quality and stability further.

title: NEARLY CONFORMAL GAUGE THEORIES ON THE LATTICE
abstract: We present selected new results on chiral symmetry breaking in nearly conformal gauge theories with fermions in the fundamental representation of the SU(3) color gauge group. We found chiral symmetry breaking (χSB) for all flavors between Nf = 4 and Nf = 12 with most of the results discussed here for Nf = 4, 8, 12 as we approach the conformal window. To identify χSB we apply several methods which include, within the framework of chiral perturbation theory, the analysis of the Goldstone spectrum in the p-regime and the spectrum of the fermion Dirac operator with eigenvalue distributions of random matrix theory in the ϵ-regime. Chiral condensate enhancement is observed with increasing Nf when the electroweak symmetry breaking scale F is held fixed in technicolor language. Important finite-volume consistency checks from the theoretical understanding of the SU(Nf) rotator spectrum of the δ-regime are discussed. We also consider these gauge theories at Nf = 16 inside the conformal window. Our work on the running coupling is presented

title: Chiral properties of SU(3) sextet fermions
abstract: SU(3) gauge theory with overlap fermions in the 2-index symmetric (sextet) and fundamental representations is considered. A priori it is not known what the pattern of chiral symmetry breaking is in a higher dimensional representation although the general expectation is that if two representations are both complex, the breaking pattern will be the same. This expectation is verified for the sextet at Nf = 0 in several exact zero mode sectors. It is shown that if the volume is large enough the same random matrix ensemble describes both the sextet and fundamental Dirac eigenvalues. The number of zero modes for the sextet increases approximately 5-fold relative to the fundamental in accordance with the index theorem for small lattice spacing but zero modes which do not correspond to integer topological charge do exist at larger lattice spacings. The zero mode number dependence of the random matrix model predictions correctly match the simulations in each sector and each representation.

title: Twelve massless flavors and three colors below the conformal window
abstract: We report new results for a frequently discussed gauge theory with twelve fermion flavors in the fundamental representation of the SU(3) color gauge group. The model, controversial with respect to its conformality, is important in non-perturbative studies searching for a viable composite Higgs mechanism Beyond the Standard Model (BSM). To resolve the controversy, we subject the model to opposite hypotheses inside and outside of the conformal window. In the first hypothesis we test chiral symmetry breaking ( SB) with its Goldstone spectrum, F , the SB condensate, and several composite hadron states as the fermion mass is varied in a limited range with our best e ort to control finite volume e ects and extrapolation to the massless chiral limit. Supporting results for SB from the running coupling based on the force between static sources and some preliminary evidence for the finite temperature transition are also presented. In the second test for the alternate hypothesis we probe conformal behavior driven by a single anomalous mass dimension under the assumption of unbroken chiral symmetry. Our results show a very low level of confidence in the conformal scenario. Staggered lattice fermions with stout-suppressed taste breaking are used throughout the simulations.

title: Lattice QCD thermodynamics in the presence of the charm quark
abstract: We present an update on the 2 + 1 flavor QCD equation of state of the Wuppertal–Budapest Collaboration, extending our previous studies to finer lattice spacings and providing a continuum extrapolation of the trace anomaly. A Symanzik improved gauge and a stout-link improved staggered fermion action is utilized. We also present preliminary results for the fully dynamical charmed equation of state.

title: New Higgs physics from the lattice
abstract: We report the first results from our comprehensive lattice to ol set to explore non-perturbative aspects of Higgs physics in the Standard Model. We demonstrate in Higgs-Yukawa models that Higgs mass lower bounds and upper bounds can be determined in lattice simulations when triviality requires the necessity of a finite cutoff to maintain n on-zero interactions. The vacuum instability problem is investigated and the lattice approa ch is compared with the traditional renormalization group procedure which sets similar goals to corr elate lower and upper Higgs mass bounds with the scale of new physics. A novel feature of our lattice simulations is the use of Ginsparg-Wilson fermions to represent the effects of Top quark loops in Higgs dynamics. The need for chiral lattice fermions is discussed and the approa ch is extended to full Top-Higgs-QCD dynamics. We also report results from our large NF analysis of Top-Higgs Yukawa models to gain analytic insight and to verify our new lattice tool set which is deployed in the simulations. The role of non-perturbative lattice studies to investigate he avy Higgs particle scenarios is illustrated in extensions of the Standard Model.