Pair Creation in QED-Strong Pulsed Laser Fields Interacting with Electron Beams

TL;DR

This paper investigates electron-positron pair creation in ultra-intense laser fields interacting with high-energy electron beams, highlighting the effects of radiation back-reaction on pair production limits.

Contribution

It introduces a kinetic model for pair creation in strong laser-electron interactions and provides numerical solutions showing how back-reaction limits pair cascade development.

Findings

Multiple pairs can be generated from a single electron at high laser intensities.

Radiation back-reaction prevents unlimited pair cascade growth.

Numerical solutions of kinetic equations describe the dynamics of particles and photons.

Abstract

QED-effects are known to occur in a strong laser pulse interaction with a counter-propagating electron beam, among these effects being electron-positron pair creation. We discuss the range of laser pulse intensities of J > 5*10^22 W/cm2 combined with electron beam energies of tens of GeV. In this regime multiple pairs may be generated from a single beam electron, some of the newborn particles being capable of further pair production. Radiation back-reaction prevents avalanche development and limits pair creation. The system of integro-differential kinetic equations for electrons, positrons and \gamma-photons is derived and solved numerically.