Strong field effects in laser pulses: the Wigner formalism
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
2011-04-05 v2 High Energy Physics - Theory
Abstract
We investigate strong field vacuum effects using a phase space approach based on the Wigner formalism. We calculate the Wigner function in a strong null-field background exactly, using lightfront field theory. The Wigner function exhibits the distinct features of strong field QED: in particular we identify the effective mass in a laser pulse, compare it to the well-known mass shift in a periodic plane wave and identify signals of multi-photon absorption and emission. Finally, we show how to extend our results to describe vacuum pair production in colliding laser pulses.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1011.1923,
title = {Strong field effects in laser pulses: the Wigner formalism},
author = {Florian Hebenstreit and Anton Ilderton and Mattias Marklund and Jens Zamanian},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1011.1923},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
9 pages, 12 .eps figures. Version 2: introduction extended. Published version