Light-front approach to relativistic electrodynamics

Abstract

We illustrate how our recent light-front approach simplifies relativistic electrodynamics with an electromagnetic (EM) field $F^{\mu\nu}$ that is the sum of a (even very intense) plane travelling wave $F_t^{\mu\nu}(ct\!-\!z)$ and a static part $F_s^{\mu\nu}(x,y,z)$; it adopts the light-like coordinate $\xi=ct\!-\!z$ instead of time $t$ as an independent variable. This can be applied to several cases of extreme acceleration, both in vacuum and in a cold diluted plasma hit by a very short and intense laser pulse (slingshot effect, plasma wave-breaking and laser wake-field acceleration, etc.)