Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
How to access QED at a supercritical Coulomb field. / Popov, R.; Shabaev, V. M.; Telnov, D. A.; Tupitsyn, I. I.; Maltsev, I. A.; Kozhedub, Y. S.; Bondarev, A.; Kozin, N.; Ma, X.; Plunien, G.; Stoehlker, T.; Tumakov, D. A.; Zaytsev, V. A.
In: Physical Review D, Vol. 102, No. 7, 076005, 10.2020.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - How to access QED at a supercritical Coulomb field
AU - Popov, R.
AU - Shabaev, V. M.
AU - Telnov, D. A.
AU - Tupitsyn, I. I.
AU - Maltsev, I. A.
AU - Kozhedub, Y. S.
AU - Bondarev, A.
AU - Kozin, N.
AU - Ma, X.
AU - Plunien, G.
AU - Stoehlker, T.
AU - Tumakov, D. A.
AU - Zaytsev, V. A.
N1 - Funding Information: We thank I. B. Khriplovich and Yu. Ts. Oganessian for stimulating discussions. This work was supported by RFBR-Rosatom (Grant No. 20-21-00098), by RFBR (Grants No. 18-03-01220, No. 20-02-00199, and No. 18-32-20063), and by the President of the Russian Federation (Grant No. MK-1626.2020.2). The work of R. V. P., V. M. S., and I. A. M. was also supported by the Foundation for the advancement of theoretical physics and mathematics “BASIS”. V. M. S. also acknowledges the support of the CAS President International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) and of SPbSU (COLLAB 2019: No. 37722582). Y. S. K. acknowledges the support from the CAS PIFI under Grant No. 2018VMC0010. The work of R. V. P., N. V. K., and D. A. T. was also supported by TU Dresden via the DAAD Programm Ostpartnerschaften. A. I. B. acknowledges the support from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (Grant No. 0784-2020-0025). The research was carried out using computational resources provided by the Resource Center “Computer Center of SPbSU.” Publisher Copyright: © 2020 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/10
Y1 - 2020/10
N2 - In slow collisions of two bare nuclei with the total charge number larger than the critical value, Zcr≈173, the initially neutral vacuum can spontaneously decay into the charged vacuum and two positrons. Detection of the spontaneous emission of positrons would be the direct evidence of this fundamental phenomenon. However, the spontaneous emission is generally masked by the dynamical positron emission, which is induced by a strong time-dependent electric field created by the colliding nuclei. In our recent paper [I. A. Maltsev et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 113401 (2019)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.123.113401] it has been shown that the spontaneous pair production can be observed via measurements of the pair-production probabilities for a given set of nuclear trajectories. In the present paper, we have significantly advanced this study by exploring additional aspects of the process we are interested in. We calculate the positron energy spectra and find that these spectra can give a clear signature of the transition from the subcritical to the supercritical regime. It is found that focusing on a part of the positron spectrum, which accounts for the energy region where the spontaneously created positrons can contribute, allows us to get a much stronger evidence of the transition to the supercritical mode, making it very well pronounced in collisions, for example, of two uranium nuclei. The possibility of extending this study to collisions of bare nuclei with neutral atoms is also considered. The probability of a vacancy in the lowest-energy state of a quasimolecule which is formed in collisions of a bare U nucleus with neutral U and Cm atoms has been calculated. The relatively large values of this probability make such collisions suitable for observing the vacuum decay.
AB - In slow collisions of two bare nuclei with the total charge number larger than the critical value, Zcr≈173, the initially neutral vacuum can spontaneously decay into the charged vacuum and two positrons. Detection of the spontaneous emission of positrons would be the direct evidence of this fundamental phenomenon. However, the spontaneous emission is generally masked by the dynamical positron emission, which is induced by a strong time-dependent electric field created by the colliding nuclei. In our recent paper [I. A. Maltsev et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 113401 (2019)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.123.113401] it has been shown that the spontaneous pair production can be observed via measurements of the pair-production probabilities for a given set of nuclear trajectories. In the present paper, we have significantly advanced this study by exploring additional aspects of the process we are interested in. We calculate the positron energy spectra and find that these spectra can give a clear signature of the transition from the subcritical to the supercritical regime. It is found that focusing on a part of the positron spectrum, which accounts for the energy region where the spontaneously created positrons can contribute, allows us to get a much stronger evidence of the transition to the supercritical mode, making it very well pronounced in collisions, for example, of two uranium nuclei. The possibility of extending this study to collisions of bare nuclei with neutral atoms is also considered. The probability of a vacancy in the lowest-energy state of a quasimolecule which is formed in collisions of a bare U nucleus with neutral U and Cm atoms has been calculated. The relatively large values of this probability make such collisions suitable for observing the vacuum decay.
KW - POSITRON PRODUCTION
KW - ELECTRON SHELLS
KW - PAIR PRODUCTION
KW - VACUUM
KW - ENERGY
KW - STATES
KW - APPROXIMATIONS
KW - COLLISIONS
KW - RESONANCE
KW - CREATION
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85093521308&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/801ee4f4-9fcb-3ce5-b997-cc6f22228a05/
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevD.102.076005
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevD.102.076005
M3 - Article
VL - 102
JO - Physical review D
JF - Physical review D
SN - 2470-0010
IS - 7
M1 - 076005
ER -
ID: 70416272