Strong field effects in laser pulses: The Wigner formalism

Journal Article · Tue Mar 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.83.065007· OSTI ID:21537569

Hebenstreit, Florian ^[1]; Ilderton, Anton; Marklund, Mattias; Zamanian, Jens ^[2]

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1. Institut fuer Physik, Karl-Franzens Universitaet Graz, A-8010 Graz (Austria)
2. Department of Physics, Umeaa University, SE-901 87 Umeaa (Sweden)

We investigate strong field vacuum effects using a phase-space approach based on the Wigner formalism. We calculate the Wigner function in a strong null-field background exactly, using lightfront field theory. The Wigner function exhibits the distinct features of strong field QED: in particular, we identify the effective mass in a laser pulse, compare it to the well-known mass shift in a periodic plane wave and identify signals of multiphoton absorption and emission. Finally, we show how to extend our results to describe vacuum pair production in colliding laser pulses.

• OSTI ID: 21537569
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 83, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.83.065007; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
ABSORPTION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
EFFECTIVE MASS
EMISSION
FIELD THEORIES
LASER RADIATION
MULTI-PHOTON PROCESSES
PAIR PRODUCTION
PERIODICITY
PHASE SPACE
PULSES
QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS
WAVE PROPAGATION
WIGNER THEORY
ELECTRODYNAMICS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
EVALUATION
INTERACTIONS
MASS
MATHEMATICAL SPACE
PARTICLE PRODUCTION
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
RADIATIONS
SIMULATION
SORPTION
SPACE
VARIATIONS