Electron–positron pair production in ion collisions at low velocity beyond Born approximation

Abstract

We derive the spectrum and the total cross section of electromagnetic $e^{+}e^{-}$ pair production in the collisions of two nuclei at low relative velocity $\beta$. Both free-free and bound-free $e^{+}e^{-}$ pair production is considered. The parameters $\eta_{A,B}=Z_{A,B}\alpha$ are assumed to be small compared to unity but arbitrary compared to $\beta$ ($Z_{A,B}$ are the charge numbers of the nuclei and $\alpha$ is the fine structure constant). Due to a suppression of the Born term by high power of $\beta$, the first Coulomb correction to the amplitude appears to be important at $\eta_{A,B}\gtrsim \beta$. The effect of a finite nuclear mass is discussed. In contrast to the result obtained in the infinite nuclear mass limit, the terms $\propto M^{-2}$ are not suppressed by the high power of $\beta$ and may easily dominate at sufficiently small velocities.