Abstract
Optical signatures of the effective nonlinear couplings among electromagnetic fields in the quantum vacuum can be conveniently described in terms of stimulated photon emission processes induced by strong classical, space-time dependent electromagnetic fields. Recent studies have adopted this approach to study collisions of Gaussian laser pulses in paraxial approximation. The present study extends these investigations beyond the paraxial approximation by using an efficient numerical solver for the classical input fields. This new numerical code allows for a consistent theoretical description of optical signatures of QED vacuum nonlinearities in generic electromagnetic fields governed by Maxwell’s equations in the vacuum, such as manifestly non-paraxial laser pulses. Our code is based on a locally constant field approximation of the Heisenberg-Euler effective Lagrangian. As this approximation is applicable for essentially all optical high-intensity laser experiments, our code is capable of calculating signal photon emission amplitudes in completely generic input field configurations, limited only by numerical cost.
Highlights
The vacuum of quantum electrodynamics (QED) is characterized by the omnipresence of quantum fluctuations, effectively providing medium-like properties
Our code is based on a locally constant field approximation of the Heisenberg-Euler effective Lagrangian. As this approximation is applicable for essentially all optical high-intensity laser experiments, our code is capable of calculating signal photon emission amplitudes in completely generic input field configurations, limited only by numerical cost
Summary In this article, we have exemplified the great potential of our new numerical tool [10] tailored to study all optical signatures of quantum vacuum nonlinearities by applying it to two specific scenarios previously discussed in Refs. [13, 23]
Summary
The vacuum of quantum electrodynamics (QED) is characterized by the omnipresence of quantum fluctuations, effectively providing medium-like properties. These vacuum fluctuations supplement Maxwell’s linear theory of classical electrodynamics with effective nonlinear interactions, which invalidate the superposition principle for electromagnetic fields These nonlinear corrections become dominant for electromagnetic fields exceeding the critical photon energy ωcr = 2mec2/ , the critical electric field strength Ecr = m2ec3/(e ) ≈ 1.3 × 1016V/cm or the critical magnetic field strength Bcr = Ecr/c ≈ 4 × 109T; me ≈ 511keV is the electron mass. [10, 11] facilitating first principles studies in electromagnetic field configurations exactly fulfilling Maxwell’s equations in vacuum It has been found, that in particular in scenarios involving the collision of multiple laser pulses, the signal photons mainly originate in the small interaction region where the pulses collide. Theoretical considerations The present study is based on the vacuum emission picture In this approach, the laser pulses are treated as background fields, while the signal photons are treated as quantum fields, see Refs.
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