Spin correlations in nonperturbative electron-positron pair creation by petawatt laser pulses colliding with a TeV proton beam

TL;DR

This paper investigates how electron spin affects nonperturbative electron-positron pair creation during high-energy proton impacts on intense circularly polarized laser fields, highlighting spin-dependent probabilities and helicity transfer.

Contribution

It provides a detailed spin-resolved analysis of pair production, comparing Dirac and Klein-Gordon predictions, and suggests experimental testing with CERN-LHC proton beams and petawatt lasers.

Findings

Spin configurations significantly influence production probabilities.

Different theoretical models yield varying predictions.

Helicity transfer occurs in the nonlinear pair creation process.

Abstract

The influence of the electron spin degree of freedom on nonperturbative electron-positron pair production by high-energy proton impact on an intense laser field of circular polarization is analyzed. Predictions from the Dirac and Klein-Gordon theories are compared and a spin-resolved calculation is performed. We show that the various spin configurations possess very different production probabilities and discuss the transfer of helicity in this highly nonlinear process. Our predictions could be tested by combining the few-TeV proton beam at CERN-LHC with an intense laser pulse from a table-top petawatt laser source.