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Dynamical Schwinger effect and high-intensity lasers. Realising nonperturbative QED

  • Topical issue: Fundamental Physics and Ultra-High Laser Fields
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Abstract

We consider the possibility of experimental verification of vacuum e+e- pair creation at the focus of two counter-propagating optical laser beams with intensities 1020–10\(^{22}~{\rm W/cm}^2\), achievable with present-day petawatt lasers, and approaching the Schwinger limit: 10\(^{29}~{\rm W/cm}^2\) to be reached at ELI. Our approach is based on the collisionless kinetic equation for the evolution of the e+ and e- distribution functions governed by a non-Markovian source term for pair production. As possible experimental signals of vacuum pair production we consider e+e- annihilation into γ-pairs and the refraction of a high-frequency probe laser beam by the produced e+e- plasma. We discuss the dependence of the dynamical pair production process on laser wavelength, with special emphasis on applications in the X-ray domain (X-FEL), as well as the prospects for μ+μ- and π+π- pair creation at high-intensity lasers. We investigate perspectives for using high-intensity lasers as “boosters” of ion beams in the few-GeV per nucleon range, which is relevant, e.g., to the exploration of the QCD phase transition in laboratory experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Wrocław, Max Born pl. 9, 50-204, Wrocław, Poland

    D. B. Blaschke

  2. Bogoliubov Laboratory for Theoretical Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, RU-141980, Dubna, Russia

    D. B. Blaschke

  3. Institut für Physik, Universität Rostock, 18051, Rostock, Germany

    D. B. Blaschke & G. Röpke

  4. Saratov State University, 410026, Saratov, Russia

    A. V. Prozorkevich, D. S. Shkirmanov & S. A. Smolyansky

  5. Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, 60439-4843, USA

    C. D. Roberts

  6. Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52428, Jülich, Germany

    S. M. Schmidt

  7. Technische Univesität Dortmund, Fakultät Physik & DELTA, 44221, Dortmund, Germany

    S. M. Schmidt

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  1. D. B. Blaschke
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Correspondence to D. B. Blaschke.

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Blaschke, D., Prozorkevich, A., Röpke, G. et al. Dynamical Schwinger effect and high-intensity lasers. Realising nonperturbative QED. Eur. Phys. J. D 55, 341–358 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2009-00156-y

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