Numerical simulations of driving beam dynamics in the plasma wakefield accelerator

Novel plasma based acceleration devices have become the subject of active research because of their ability to support acceleration gradients in excess of 10 GeV/m. The plasma wakefield accelerator (PWFA) is one such device which consists of an intense electron beam (the primary beam) whose purpose is to excite a plasma wave which, in turn, accelerates a trailing electron bunch (the secondary beam). Two issues of current interest in the PWFA are 1) the equilibrium and stability of the driving beam and 2) the effect of the wakefield on the quality of the trailing electron bunch. The PWFA is currently the subject of experiments to be performed at the Argonne National Laboratory and the University of California, Los Angeles