Structure of the Coulomb and unitarity corrections to the cross section ofe+e−pair production in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions

Abstract

We analyze the structure of the Coulomb and unitarity corrections to the single e + e - pair production, as well as the cross section σ n for the multiple pair production in collision of ultra-relativistic nuclei. In the external field approximation, we consider the probability of one pair production at a fixed impact parameter p between colliding nuclei. We obtain the analytical result for this probability at large p as compared to the electron Compton wavelength. The energy dependence of this probability, as well as that of σ n , differ essentially from widely cited but incorrect results. We estimate also the unitary corrections to the total cross section of the process.