Role of vacuum polarization for the annihilation channel in a strong laser field

TL;DR

This paper explores how vacuum polarization influences the one-photon annihilation process in electron-positron plasmas created by intense laser fields, highlighting potential observable effects in high-intensity laser experiments.

Contribution

It introduces modifications to the photon kinetic equation accounting for vacuum polarization effects in strong laser fields, focusing on the large adiabaticity parameter regime.

Findings

Photon radiation is negligible for gamma >> 1.

Vacuum polarization effects can significantly alter annihilation channels.

Potential observability of one-photon annihilation in XFEL-like laser setups.

Abstract

We consider vacuum polarization effects in the one-photon annihilation channel within a kinetic description of the e+ e- plasma produced from the vacuum in the focal spot of counter-propagating laser beams. This entails essential changes in the structure of the photon kinetic equation. We investigate the domain of large adiabaticity parameters gamma >> 1 where the photon radiation turns out to be very small. A more thorough examination of the domain gamma < 1 needs separate investigation. However, an exploratory study has shown that the one-photon annihilation channel can lead for some domains of laser field parameters (e.g., for the XFEL) to contributions accessible for observation.