The effect of interference on the trident process in a constant crossed field

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive calculation of the electron-seeded pair-creation (trident) process in a constant crossed field, highlighting the significant role of exchange interference and its implications for laser-plasma simulations.

Contribution

It introduces the inclusion of exchange interference in the calculation of the trident process, demonstrating its impact on the one-step process at small quantum nonlinearity.

Findings

Exchange interference can be expressed as a contribution to the one-step process.

Exchange interference suppresses the one-step process at small quantum nonlinearity.

Supports the approximation of the trident process by iterative single-vertex subprocesses in high-intensity regimes.

Abstract

We perform a complete calculation of electron-seeded pair-creation (the trident process) in a constant crossed electromagnetic background. Unlike earlier treatments, we include the interference between exchange diagrams. We find this exchange interference can be written as a contribution solely to the one-step process, and for small quantum nonlinearity parameter is of the same order as other one-step terms. We find the exchange interference further suppresses the one-step process in this parameter regime. Our findings further support the crucial assumption made in laser-plasma simulation codes that at high intensities, the trident process can be well-approximated by repeated iteration of the single-vertex subprocesses. The applicability of this assumption to higher-vertex processes has fundamental importance to the development of simulation capabilities.