Work

Vacuum polarization effects in impulsive fields

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Photons impinging on strong electromagnetic fields can change both momentum and helicity state, due to quantum vacuum polarization. We investigate these effects in the collision of photons with impulsive PP-waves, which describe e.g. the fields of ultraboosted charge distributions. We connect our results to vacuum birefringence and quantum reflection in both QED and SUSY QED. We also compare with helicity flip in plane wave backgrounds, exploring how and when known tree-level relations, relating amplitudes in PP-waves and in plane waves, extend to one-loop corrections. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Source: Physical review. D/Physical review. D.

DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.110.105022

Authors: Anton Ilderton, Hannah Kingham

Institution: University of Edinburgh

Language: English

Topic: Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: University of Edinburgh, Science and Technology Facilities Council

Awards: Particle Theory at the Higgs Centre, G653123246