High-Energy Recollision Processes of Laser-Generated Electron-Positron Pairs

TL;DR

This paper investigates high-energy recollision processes of laser-generated electron-positron pairs, revealing a new contribution to the polarization operator that enables energy absorption over large distances, facilitating high-energy reactions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel recollision contribution to the laser-dressed polarization operator, distinct from the traditional annihilation process, enabling new high-energy phenomena in laser-particle interactions.

Findings

Identification of a new recollision contribution in the polarization operator.

Energy absorption over macroscopic laser wavelengths allows high-energy reactions.

Difference from the known annihilation process within the microscopic formation region.

Abstract

Two oppositely charged particles created within a microscopic space-time region can be separated, accelerated over a much larger distance, and brought to a recollision by a laser field. Consequently, new reactions become feasible, where the energy absorbed by the particles is efficiently released. By investigating the laser-dressed polarization operator, we identify a new contribution describing high-energy recollisions experienced by an electron-positron pair generated by pure light when a gamma photon impinges on an intense, linearly polarized laser pulse. The energy absorbed in the recollision process over the macroscopic laser wavelength corresponds to a large number of laser photons and can be exploited to prime high-energy reactions. Thus, the recollision contribution to the polarization operator differs qualitatively and quantitatively from the well-known one, describing the annihilation of an electron-positron pair within the microscopic formation region.