Analytical tools for investigating strong-field QED processes in tightly focused laser fields

TL;DR

This paper develops analytical tools, including propagators and simplified wave functions, for studying strong-field QED processes in tightly focused laser fields, extending previous work on electron wave functions.

Contribution

It introduces scalar and spinor propagators in complex laser fields and provides a simplified expression for electron wave functions, enhancing calculations in strong-field QED.

Findings

Derived scalar and spinor propagators for focused laser fields

Presented a simplified, general wave function expression

Provided a substitution rule from Volkov solutions

Abstract

The present paper is the natural continuation of the letter [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{113}, 040402 (2014)], where the electron wave functions in the presence of a background electromagnetic field of general space-time structure have been constructed analytically, assuming that the initial energy of the electron is the largest dynamical energy scale in the problem and having in mind the case of a background tightly focused laser beam. Here, we determine the scalar and the spinor propagators under the same approximations, which are useful tools for calculating, e.g., total probabilities of processes occurring in such complex electromagnetic fields. In addition, we also present a simpler and more general expression of the electron wave functions found in [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{113}, 040402 (2014)] and we indicate a substitution rule to obtain them starting from the well-known Volkov wave functions in a plane-wave field.