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The theory of Gaussian functions is reformulated using an umbral point of view. The symbolic method we adopt here allows an interpretation of the Gaussian in terms of a Lorentzian image function. The formalism also suggests the introduction of a new point of view of trigonometry, opening a new interpretation of the associated special functions. The Erfi(x), is, for example, interpreted as the “sine” of the Gaussian trigonometry. The possibilities offered by the Umbral restyling proposed here are noticeable and offered by the formalism itself. We mention the link between higher-order Gaussian trigonometric functions, Hermite polynomials, and the possibility of introducing new forms of distributions with longer tails than the ordinary Gaussians. The possibility of framing the theoretical content of the present article within a redefinition of the hypergeometric function is eventually discussed.

The monomiality principle is based on an abstract definition of the concept of derivative and multiplicative operators. This allows to treat different families of special polynomials as ordinary monomials. The procedure underlines a generalization of the Heisenberg–Weyl group, along with the relevant technicalities and symmetry properties. In this article, we go deeply into the formulation and meaning of the monomiality principle and employ it to study the properties of a set of polynomials, which, asymptotically, reduce to the ordinary two-variable Kampè dè Fèrièt family. We derive the relevant differential equations and discuss the associated orthogonality properties, along with the relevant generalized forms.

We discuss the general concepts underlying the design strategies of complex devices like Tokamaks and Free Electron Lasers (FEL). Regarding the FEL, starting from the desired output performances, the key parameters are embedded to get a set of semi-analytical/empirical equations yielding straightforward and reliable estimates of gain and power. In a similar way, the guiding elements of a fusion reactor, to reach the prescribed fusion gain Q and power, are defined in terms of scaling relations involving pivotal quantities like radius and magnetic field. General formulae characterizing a physical system may be the consequence of an unknown symmetry. The onset of specific instabilities represent the breaking of a symmetry characterizing given equilibrium conditions. In this article, we comment on the analogy between two different physical devices, and even though we do not specify any underlying symmetry, we aim to stimulate further research in this direction.

Along with the development of FEL X-ray sources, the design and the construction of Compton Back-Scattering (CBS) devices for different applications are being pursued. These sources are designed to provide monochromatic, high peak brightness tunable light beams, with photon energies above 10 KeV. The source brightness is the most significant figure of merit, which specifies the suitability of X-ray beams for their application in a specific field of interest and also reflects the quality of the electron beam itself, which in turn depends on the charge, emittance, energy spread, etcetera. This article is intended as an introductory review to the field and we embed a few theoretical considerations and analytical formulae to develop simple tools for the design of CBS X-ray sources. The present attempt is analogous to previous efforts, put forward to model Free Electron Laser devices, using scaling relations accounting for the entanglement between the different physical quantities contributing to the output beam performances. We comment on the reliability of our analysis by a comparison with the wealth of results (either numerical and analytical) reported in the dedicated literature.

The properties of electromagnetic undulators, produced by the field of a high-power microwave, are discussed. We analyze the conditions to be satisfied that allow the treatment of the emission process by relativistic charges moving through it in full analogy with the case of their static counterparts. We critically review the often claimed possibility of exploiting them in programs aimed at reducing the sizes and costs of an actual free electron laser (FEL) device. We analyze several possible configurations for FELs based on powerful microwave undulators and conclude that the present level of technology, even though not yet mature, should be improved to allow a breakthrough either for low- or high-gain devices.

Free Electron Lasers (FELs) are certainly among the most interesting devices, belonging to the realm of coherent radiation sources [...]

Gyrotrons are used as high-power sources of coherent radiation operating in pulsed and CW regimes in many scientific and technological fields. In this paper, we discuss two of their numerous applications. The first one is in gyrotron-powered electromagnetic wigglers and undulators. The second one is for driving high-gradient accelerating structures in compact particle accelerators. The comparison, between the requirements imposed by these two concepts on the radiation sources on one hand and the output parameters of the currently available high-performance gyrotrons on the other hand, show that they match each other to a high degree. We consider this as a manifestation of the feasibility and potential of these concepts. It is believed that after the first successful proof-of-principle experiments they will find more wide usage in the advanced FEL and particle accelerators.

We discuss a hybrid Free Electron Laser (FEL) architecture operating with a RF undulator provided by a powerful Cyclotron Auto-Resonance Maser (CARM). We outline the design elements to operate a compact X-ray device. We review the essential aspects of wave undulator FEL theory and of CARM devices.

The use of non-standard calculus means have been proven to be extremely powerful for studying old and new properties of special functions and polynomials. These methods have helped to frame either elementary and special functions within the same logical context. Methods of Umbral and operational calculus have been embedded in a powerful and efficient analytical tool, which will be applied to the study of the properties of distributions such as Tsallis, Weibull and Student’s. We state that they can be viewed as standard Gaussian distributions and we take advantage of the relevant properties to infer those of the aforementioned distributions.

The use of non-local operators, defining Riemann–Liouville or Caputo derivatives, is a very useful tool to study problems involving non-conventional diffusion problems. The case of electric circuits, ruled by non-integer derivatives or capacitors with fractional dielectric permittivity, is a fairly natural frame of relevant applications. We use techniques, involving generalized exponential operators, to obtain suitable solutions for this type of problems and eventually discuss specific problems in applications.

The possibility of extending the tunability of Free-Electron Lasers towards short wavelengths has been explored through the design of devices conceived to enhance the mechanisms of nonlinear harmonic generation. In this respect, different schemes of operation have been suggested in the past, such as harmonic seeding, bi-harmonic undulators, and two-beam self-seeding devices. In this paper, we discuss how these methods can be merged into a tool, extending the performance of FEL devices.

The formalism of differ-integral calculus, initially developed to treat differential operators of fractional order, realizes a complete symmetry between differential and integral operators. This possibility has opened new and interesting scenarios, once extended to positive and negative order derivatives. The associated rules offer an elegant, yet powerful, tool to deal with integral operators, viewed as derivatives of order-1. Although it is well known that the integration is the inverse of the derivative operation, the aforementioned rules offer a new mean to obtain either an explicit iteration of the integration by parts or a general formula to obtain the primitive of any infinitely differentiable function. We show that the method provides an unexpected link with generalized telescoping series, yields new useful tools for the relevant treatment, and allows a practically unexhausted tool to derive identities involving harmonic numbers and the associated generalized forms. It is eventually shown that embedding the differ-integral point of view with techniques of umbral algebraic nature offers a new insight into, and the possibility of, establishing a new and more powerful formalism.

The theory of Generalized Bessel Functions is reviewed and their application to various problems in the study of electro-magnetic processes is presented. We consider the cases of emission of bremsstrahlung radiation by ultra-relativistic electrons in linearly polarized undulators, including also exotic configurations, aimed at enhancing the harmonic content of the emitted radiation. The analysis is eventually extended to the generalization of the FEL pendulum equation to treat Free Electron Laser operating with multi-harmonic undulators. The paper aims at picking out those elements supporting the usefulness of the Generalized Bessel Functions in the elaboration of the theory underlying the study of the spectral properties of the bremsstrahlung radiation emitted by relativistic charges, along with the relevant flexibility in accounting for a large variety of apparently uncorrelated phenomenolgies, like multi-photon processes, including non linear Compton scattering.

The FEL integral equation is reviewed here and is studied under different contexts, accounting for diverse physical regimes. We include higher order harmonics and saturation effects, and explain the origin of scaling relations, widely exploited to describe either FEL dynamics or nonnlinear harmonic generation.

In this paper, we show that the use of methods of an operational nature, such as umbral calculus, allows achieving a double target: on one side, the study of the Voigt function, which plays a pivotal role in spectroscopic studies and in other applications, according to a new point of view, and on the other, the introduction of a Voigt transform and its possible use. Furthermore, by the same method, we point out that the Hermite and Laguerre functions, extension of the corresponding polynomials to negative and/or real indices, can be expressed through a definition in a straightforward and unified fashion. It is illustrated how the techniques that we are going to suggest provide an easy derivation of the relevant properties along with generalizations to higher order functions.

Over the past 90 years, particle accelerators have evolved into powerful and widely used tools for basic research, industry, medicine, and science. A new type of accelerator that uses plasma wakefields promises gradients as high as some tens of billions of electron volts per meter. This would allow much smaller accelerators that could be used for a wide range of fundamental and applied research applications. One of the target applications is a plasma-driven free-electron laser (FEL), aiming at producing tunable coherent light using electrons traveling in the periodic magnetic field of an undulator. In this work, the plasma-based electron beams with the most promising qualities, designed in the framework of EuPRAXIA, are analyzed in terms of the FEL performance.

Root-operator factorization à la Dirac provides an effective tool to deal with equations, which are not of evolution type, or are ruled by fractional differential operators, thus eventually yielding evolution-like equations although for a multicomponent vector. We will review the method along with its extension to root operators of degree higher than two. Also, we will show the results obtained by the Dirac-method as well as results from other methods, specifically in connection with evolution-like equations ruled by square-root operators, that we will address to as relativistic evolution equations.

Dual numbers and their higher-order version are important tools for numerical computations, and in particular for finite difference calculus. Based on the relevant algebraic rules and matrix realizations of dual numbers, we present a novel point of view, embedding dual numbers within a formalism reminiscent of operational umbral calculus.

In this paper, we introduce higher-order harmonic numbers and derive their relevant properties and generating functions by using an umbral-type method. We discuss the link with recent works on the subject, and show that the combinations of umbral and other techniques (such as the Laplace and other types of integral transforms) yield a very efficient tool to explore the properties of these numbers.

The solution of pseudo initial value differential equations, either ordinary or partial (including those of fractional nature), requires the development of adequate analytical methods, complementing those well established in the ordinary differential equation setting. A combination of techniques, involving procedures of umbral and of operational nature, has been demonstrated to be a very promising tool in order to approach within a unifying context non-canonical evolution problems. This article covers the extension of this approach to the solution of pseudo-evolutionary equations. We will comment on the explicit formulation of the necessary techniques, which are based on certain time- and operator ordering tools. We will in particular demonstrate how Volterra-Neumann expansions, Feynman-Dyson series and other popular tools can be profitably extended to obtain solutions for fractional differential equations. We apply the method to several examples, in which fractional calculus and a certain umbral image calculus play a role of central importance.

Inspired by ideas from umbral calculus and based on the two types of integrals occurring in the defining equations for the gamma and the reciprocal gamma functions, respectively, we develop a multi-variate version of umbral calculus and of the so-called umbral image technique. Besides providing a class of new formulae for generalized hypergeometric functions and an implementation of series manipulations for computing lacunary generating functions, our main application of these techniques is the study of Sobolev-Jacobi polynomials. Motivated by applications to theoretical chemistry, we moreover present a deep link between generalized normal-ordering techniques introduced by Gurappa and Panigrahi, two-variable Hermite polynomials and our integral-based series transforms. Notably, we thus calculate all K-tuple L-shifted lacunary exponential generating functions for a certain family of Sobolev-Jacobi (SJ) polynomials explicitly.

The theory of harmonic-based functions is discussed here within the framework of umbral operational methods. We derive a number of results based on elementary notions relying on the properties of Gaussian integrals.

The high gain free electron laser (FEL) equation is a Volterra type integro-differential equation amenable for analytical solutions in a limited number of cases. In this note, a novel technique, based on an expansion employing a family of two variable Hermite polynomials, is shown to provide straightforward analytical solutions for cases hardly solvable with conventional means. The possibility of extending the method by the use of expansion using different polynomials (two variable Legendre like) expansion is also discussed.

A common environment in which to place Bessel and circular functions is envisaged. We show, by the use of operational methods, that the Gaussian provides the umbral image of these functions. We emphasize the role of the spherical Bessel functions and a family of associated auxiliary polynomials, as transition elements between these families of functions. The consequences of this point of view and the relevant impact on the study of the properties of special functions is carefully discussed.

We apply the method of generating function, to introduce new forms of Bernoulli numbers and polynomials, which are exploited to derive further classes of partial sums involving generalized many index many variable polynomials. Analogous considerations are developed for the Euler numbers and polynomials.

q analog of bessel functions, symmetric under the interchange of q and q^ −1 are introduced. The definition is based on the generating function realized as product of symmetric q-exponential functions with appropriate arguments. Symmetric q-Bessel function are shown to satisfy various identities as well as second-order q-differential equations, which in the limit q → 1 reproduce those obeyed by the usual cylindrical Bessel functions. A brief discussion on the possible algebraic setting for symmetric q-Bessel functions is also provided.

Nonlinear harmonic generation can be a very useful and important phenomenon for single-pass free-electron lasers (FELs) operating in the high-gain regime. Strong bunching at the fundamental wavelength and its associated higher harmonic content allow significant radiation at shorter wavelengths to be emitted without serious effects upon the output power at the fundamental. Here, we analyze the relative sensitivities to beam quality variations of the output fundamental and harmonic powers for a visible-wavelength FEL operating in the high-gain regime.