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Title: Polarized QED cascades

Abstract

By taking the spin and polarization of the electrons, positrons and photons into account in the strong-field QED processes of nonlinear Compton emission and pair production, we find that the growth rate of QED cascades in ultra-intense laser fields can be substantially reduced. While this means that fewer particles are produced, we also found them to be highly polarized. We further find that the high-energy tail of the particle spectra is polarized opposite to that expected from Sokolov–Ternov theory, which cannot be explained by just taking into account spin-asymmetries in the pair production process, but results significantly from 'spin-straggling'. We employ a kinetic equation approach for the electron, positron and photon distributions, each of them spin/polarization-resolved, with the QED effects of photon emission and pair production modelled by a spin/polarization dependent Boltzmann-type collision operator. For photon-seeded cascades, depending on the photon polarization, we find an excess or a shortage of particle production in the early stages of cascade development, which provides a path towards a controlled experiment. Throughout this paper we focus on rotating electric field configuration, which represent an idealized model and allows for a straightforward interpretation of the observed effects.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4]
  1. Helmholtz Institute, Jena (Germany); GSI-Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt (Germany); Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
  2. Univ. of York (United Kingdom)
  3. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  4. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); US Army Research Office (ARO); US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); National Science Foundation (NSF); Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
OSTI Identifier:
1808882
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-76SF00515; W911NF-16-1-0044; FA9550-16-1-0121; 1804463; EP/M018156/1
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
New Journal of Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 23; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 1367-2630
Publisher:
IOP Publishing
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS

Citation Formats

Seipt, Daniel, Ridgers, Christopher P., Del Sorbo, Dario, and Thomas, Alec R. Polarized QED cascades. United States: N. p., 2021. Web. doi:10.1088/1367-2630/abf584.
Seipt, Daniel, Ridgers, Christopher P., Del Sorbo, Dario, & Thomas, Alec R. Polarized QED cascades. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/abf584
Seipt, Daniel, Ridgers, Christopher P., Del Sorbo, Dario, and Thomas, Alec R. Tue . "Polarized QED cascades". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/abf584. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1808882.
@article{osti_1808882,
title = {Polarized QED cascades},
author = {Seipt, Daniel and Ridgers, Christopher P. and Del Sorbo, Dario and Thomas, Alec R.},
abstractNote = {By taking the spin and polarization of the electrons, positrons and photons into account in the strong-field QED processes of nonlinear Compton emission and pair production, we find that the growth rate of QED cascades in ultra-intense laser fields can be substantially reduced. While this means that fewer particles are produced, we also found them to be highly polarized. We further find that the high-energy tail of the particle spectra is polarized opposite to that expected from Sokolov–Ternov theory, which cannot be explained by just taking into account spin-asymmetries in the pair production process, but results significantly from 'spin-straggling'. We employ a kinetic equation approach for the electron, positron and photon distributions, each of them spin/polarization-resolved, with the QED effects of photon emission and pair production modelled by a spin/polarization dependent Boltzmann-type collision operator. For photon-seeded cascades, depending on the photon polarization, we find an excess or a shortage of particle production in the early stages of cascade development, which provides a path towards a controlled experiment. Throughout this paper we focus on rotating electric field configuration, which represent an idealized model and allows for a straightforward interpretation of the observed effects.},
doi = {10.1088/1367-2630/abf584},
journal = {New Journal of Physics},
number = 5,
volume = 23,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue May 18 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Tue May 18 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}

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