Electron-positron pair annihilation in kinetic plasma

TL;DR

This paper investigates electron-positron pair annihilation in kinetic plasma under strong fields and high-frequency waves, revealing conditions where annihilation dominates and impacts plasma energy dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of pair annihilation versus creation in plasma using the Dirac Heisenberg Wigner formalism, highlighting new insights into energy exchange mechanisms.

Findings

Pair annihilation can dominate over creation depending on plasma conditions.

Energy released from annihilation can enhance field energy.

High-frequency waves induce annihilation when photon energy matches pair energy.

Abstract

The process of electron positron pair annihilation, driven by strong fields (Inverse Schwinger mechanism) and high-frequency waves, is studied using the Dirac Heisenberg Wigner formalism. In an electron positron plasma, the presence of a strong field leads to both pair creation and annihilation. Depending on plasma properties such as non-degeneracy and the momentum distribution, pair annihilation can dominate over pair creation. The energy released from annihilated pairs can lead to an enhancement of the field energy, provided that the plasma effectively blocks the creation of new pairs. Additionally, pair annihilation induced by high-frequency waves is shown to occur when the photon energy matches the energy of the pairs in the plasma.