Photon Splitting in a Strong Magnetic Field: Recalculation and Comparison With Previous Calculations

TL;DR

This paper recalculates the photon splitting amplitude in strong magnetic fields using a worldline path integral approach, confirming previous results and providing publicly accessible numerical tools.

Contribution

It introduces a new recalculation method for photon splitting amplitudes and verifies its consistency with earlier studies.

Findings

Recalculation matches previous results by Adler, Stoneham, Baier, Milstein, and Shaisultanov.

Provides publicly available numerical programs for photon splitting calculations.

Confirms the validity of the worldline path integral approach in this context.

Abstract

We recalculate the amplitude for photon splitting in a strong magnetic field below the pair production threshold, using the worldline path integral variant of the Bern--Kosower formalism. Numerical comparison (using programs that we have made available for public access on the Internet) shows that the results of the recalculation are identical to the earlier calculations of Adler and later of Stoneham, and to the recent recalculation by Baier, Milstein, and Shaisultanov.