High energy astrophysics with ultra-intense lasers

Summary form only given, substantially as follows. Reviews fifteen possible model experiments on astrophysics with lasers. When a focused ultra-intense laser irradiates a high-Z material, relativistic high-energy electrons are efficiently produced, and subsequent nuclear and QED (quantum electrodynamics) phenomena are expected to take place inside the target. The relativistic Fokker-Planck equation has been solved numerically for electrons and positrons with parameters used in the experiment. The author clarifies what physics is most important in the experiment and how the energy spectrum of the created positrons are determined. Such studies suggest that relativistic and dense electron-positron plasmas can be made in the laboratory.