In high-intensity (> 10 21 Wcm −2 ) laser-matter interactions gamma-ray photon emission by the electrons can strongly effect the electron's dynamics and copious numbers of electron-positron pairs can be produced by the emitted photons. We show how these processes can be included in simulations by coupling a Monte-Carlo algorithm describing the emission to a particle-in-cell code. The Monte-Carlo algorithm includes quantum corrections to the photon emission, which we show must be included if the pair production rate is to be correctly determined. The accuracy, convergence and energy conservation properties of the Monte-Carlo algorithm are analysed in simple test problems.

The NOvA experiment has seen a 4.4σ signal ofν e appearance in a 2 GeVν μ beam at a distance of 810 km. Using 12.33 × 10 20 protons on target delivered to the Fermilab NuMI neutrino beamline, the experiment recorded 27ν μ →ν e candidates with a background of 10.3 and 102ν μ →ν μ candidates. This new antineutrino data are combined with neutrino data to measure the parameters jΔm 2 32 j ¼ 2.48 þ0.11 −0.06 × 10 −3 eV 2 =c 4 and sin 2 θ 23 in the ranges from (0.53-0.60) and (0.45-0.48) in the normal neutrino mass hierarchy. The data exclude most values near δ CP ¼ π=2 for the inverted mass hierarchy by more than 3σ and favor the normal neutrino mass hierarchy by 1.9σ and θ 23 values in the upper octant by 1.6σ.

The dynamics of energetic particles in strong electromagnetic fields can be heavily influenced by the energy loss arising from the emission of radiation during acceleration, known as radiation reaction. When interacting with a high-energy electron beam, today's lasers are sufficiently intense to explore the transition between the classical and quantum radiation reaction regimes. We present evidence of radiation reaction in the collision of an ultrarelativistic electron beam generated by laser-wakefield acceleration (ε > 500 MeV) with an intense laser pulse (a 0 > 10). We measure an energy loss in the postcollision electron spectrum that is correlated with the detected signal of hard photons (γ rays), consistent with a quantum description of radiation reaction. The generated γ rays have the highest energies yet reported from an all-optical inverse Compton scattering scheme, with critical energy ε crit > 30 MeV.

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We present updated results from the NOvA experiment for ν μ → ν μ and ν μ → ν e oscillations from an exposure of 8.85 × 10 20 protons on target, which represents an increase of 46% compared to our previous publication. The results utilize significant improvements in both the simulations and analysis of the data. A joint fit to the data for ν μ disappearance and ν e appearance gives the best-fit point as normal mass hierarchy, Δm 2 32 ¼ 2.44 × 10 −3 eV 2 =c 4 , sin 2 θ 23 ¼ 0.56, and δ CP ¼ 1.21π. The 68.3% confidence intervals in the normal mass hierarchy are Δm 2 32 ∈ ½2.37; 2.52 × 10 −3 eV 2 =c 4 , sin 2 θ 23 ∈ ½0.43; 0.51 ∪ ½0.52; 0.60, and δ CP ∈ ½0; 0.12π ∪ ½0.91π; 2π. The inverted mass hierarchy is disfavored at the 95% confidence level for all choices of the other oscillation parameters.

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