Muon pair creation by two x-ray laser photons in the field of an atomic nucleus

TL;DR

This paper investigates muon pair creation through nonlinear two-photon absorption during ultrarelativistic ion-laser collisions, revealing how nuclear properties influence production rates and enabling nuclear form factor measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a systematic study of muon pair production across the nuclear chart, highlighting the effects of nuclear charge, size, and excitation on the process.

Findings

Production rates saturate for high-Z ions due to nuclear effects.

The process can be experimentally realized with current ion accelerators and laser technology.

Potential to measure nuclear form factors through muon pair creation.

Abstract

The generation of muon-antimuon pairs is calculated in the collision of an ultrarelativistic bare ion with an intense x-ray laser beam. The reaction proceeds nonlinearly via absorption of two laser photons. By systematic study throughout the nuclear chart we show that the interplay between the nuclear charge and size, along with the possibility of nuclear excitation leads to saturation of the total production rates for high-Z ions, in contrast to the usual Z^2 scaling for pointlike projectiles. The process is experimentally accessible by combining present-day ion accelerators with near-future laser sources and in principle allows for the measurement of nuclear form factors.