Experimental investigation of strong field trident production

Collaboration
Oct 1, 2010
12 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.D 82 (2010) 072002
  • Published: Oct 6, 2010
Experiments:

Citations per year

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Abstract: (APS)
We show by experiment that an electron impinging on an electric field that is of critical magnitude in its rest frame, may produce an electron-positron pair. Our measurements address higher-order QED, using the strong electric fields obtainable along particular crystallographic directions in single crystals. For the amorphous material our data are in good agreement with theory, whereas a discrepancy with theory on the magnitude of the trident enhancement is found in the precisely aligned case where the strong electric field acts.
  • 12.20.Fv
  • 41.75.Ht
  • 41.60.-m
  • electron nucleus: interaction
  • electric field: high
  • electron: pair production
  • germanium: crystal
  • crystal: alignment
  • positron: momentum spectrum
  • electron: momentum spectrum