ELFT HÍRADÓ

[Biro Tamas <biro.tamas AT wigner.mta.hu>]

Dear Colleagues,

we present our next

          Wigner Colloquium

on Electron-Positron Pair Production in Laser Fields

by Prof. Reinhard Alkofer (Univ. Graz)

on Tuesday 8 May 2018, 14:00 → 15:00
in Bldg 1, Meeting room
KFKI campus, Budapest, Konkoly Thege Miklós u 29-33.


Abstract:

Electron-positron pair production in ultra-strong electric fields, the 
Sauter-Schwinger effect, is a long-standing theoretical prediction. It 
is expected that modern laser facilities will be able to test it in the 
near future. In this talk I will review recent work on the theoretical 
description of non-perturbative electron-positron pair production with a 
special emphasis on investigations performed in our group in Graz.

First, the field parameters to be achieved in some (planned) laser 
facilities like the European XFEL at DESY or in the Extreme Light 
Infrastructure (ELI) project will be shortly reviewed and compared to 
typical fields necessary for the Sauter-Schwinger effect to occur.  The 
underlying idea of the Dynamically Assisted Schwinger Pair Production 
will be explained in some detail. In addition, the crossover from 
Sauter-Schwinger to multiphoton production ("nonperturbative threshold 
regime") will be analyzed with respect to a possible experimental 
verification. It is shown how the quite complex spectra of created pairs 
can be understood through an effective mass for the electrons and with 
the help of semi-classical ponderomotive forces. Last but not least, the 
effect of inhomogeneous magnetic fields will be discussed.