Wakefield excitation via Compton scattering*

Wakefields of lasers, coherent eVs photons, or beam driver can efficiently accelerate electrons. We explore a new regime in which the wakefield is driven by high energy incoherent photons, at keV energy, via Compton scattering, similarly to what was explored numerically by Frederiksen et al. [ApJ 680, L5 (2008)]. We explore this scenario self-consistently and from first principles, using the Compton scattering module of OSIRIS 4.0, to study the interaction of high energy incoherent radiation fluxes with the plasma. Our numerical results are compared with an analytical model.