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 that 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 that 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 the 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.
Original language | English |
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Number of pages | 0 |
Journal | Physical Review D |
Volume | 98 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | 6 Jul 2018 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 6 Jul 2018 |