34 research outputs found
Exact scaling of pair production in the high-energy limit of heavy-ion collisions
The two-center Dirac equation for an electron in the external electromagnetic
field of two colliding heavy ions in the limit in which the ions are moving at
the speed of light is exactly solved and nonperturbative amplitudes for free
electron-positron pair production are obtained. We find the condition for the
applicability of this solution for large but finite collision energy, and use
it to explain recent experimental results. The observed scaling of positron
yields as the square of the projectile and target charges is a result of an
exact cancellation of a nonperturbative charge dependence and holds as well for
large coupling. Other observables would be sensitive to nonperturbative phases.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex, no figures, submitted to PR
Structure of the Coulomb and unitarity corrections to the cross section of pair production in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions
We analyze the structure of the Coulomb and unitarity corrections to the
single pair production as well as the cross section for the multiple pair
production. In the external field approximation we consider the probability of
pair production at fixed impact parameter between colliding
ultra-relativistic heavy nuclei. We obtain the analytical result for this
probability at large as compared to the electron Compton wavelength. We
estimate also the unitary corrections to the total cross section of the
process.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX, references correcte
Effect of continuum couplings in fusion of halo Be on Pb around the Coulomb barrier
The effect of continuum couplings in the fusion of the halo nucleus Be
on Pb around the Coulomb barrier is studied using a three-body model
within a coupled discretised continuum channels (CDCC) formalism. We
investigate in particular the role of continuum-continuum couplings. These are
found to hinder total, complete and incomplete fusion processes. Couplings to
the projectile bound excited state redistribute the complete and
incomplete fusion cross sections, but the total fusion cross section remains
nearly constant. Results show that continuum-continuum couplings enhance the
irreversibility of breakup and reduce the flux that penetrates the Coulomb
barrier. Converged total fusion cross sections agree with the experimental ones
for energies around the Coulomb barrier, but underestimate those for energies
well above the Coulomb barrier.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev.
Higher Order Processes in Electromagnetic Production of Electron Positron Pairs in Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions
We study higher-order effects in the electromagnetic production of
electron-positron pairs in relativistic heavy ion collisions. Treating the
field of the heavy ions as an external field and neglecting the interaction
among electrons and positrons, we show that the -pair creation amplitude is
the antisymmetrised product of one-pair creation amplitudes and the vacuum
amplitude. Neglecting contributions coming from exchange terms, we show that
the total probability for pairs is approximately a Poisson distribution. We
investigate further the structure of the reduced one-pair amplitude,
concentrating especially on multiple-particle corrections. We calculate the
first of these corrections in second order Magnus theory based on our previous
result in second-order Born approximation for impact parameter zero.
Explicit calculations show that the total probability is increased up to 10 \%
by this correction for realistic collider parameters. The calculations can also
be used to confirm the use of the Poisson distribution for the total
probability.Comment: 29 pages RevTeX and 12 uuencoded figures (compressed postscript
Coulomb Effects on Electromagnetic Pair Production in Ultrarelativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions
We discuss the implications of the eikonal amplitude on the pair production
probability in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion transits. In this context the
Weizs\"acker-Williams method is shown to be exact in the ultrarelativistic
limit, irrespective of the produced particles' mass. A new equivalent
single-photon distribution is derived which correctly accounts for the Coulomb
distortions. As an immediate application, consequences for unitarity violation
in photo-dissociation processes in peripheral heavy-ion encounters are
discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 4 .eps figure
Asymptotic channels and gauge transformations of the time-dependent Dirac equation for extremely relativistic heavy-ion collisions
We discuss the two-center, time-dependent Dirac equation describing the
dynamics of an electron during a peripheral, relativistic heavy-ion collision
at extreme energies. We derive a factored form, which is exact in the
high-energy limit, for the asymptotic channel solutions of the Dirac equation,
and elucidate their close connection with gauge transformations which transform
the dynamics into a representation in which the interaction between the
electron and a distant ion is of short range. We describe the implications of
this relationship for solving the time-dependent Dirac equation for extremely
relativistic collisions.Comment: 12 pages, RevTeX, 2 figures, submitted to PR
Atomic X-ray Spectroscopy of Accreting Black Holes
Current astrophysical research suggests that the most persistently luminous
objects in the Universe are powered by the flow of matter through accretion
disks onto black holes. Accretion disk systems are observed to emit copious
radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, each energy band providing
access to rather distinct regimes of physical conditions and geometric scale.
X-ray emission probes the innermost regions of the accretion disk, where
relativistic effects prevail. While this has been known for decades, it also
has been acknowledged that inferring physical conditions in the relativistic
regime from the behavior of the X-ray continuum is problematic and not
satisfactorily constraining. With the discovery in the 1990s of iron X-ray
lines bearing signatures of relativistic distortion came the hope that such
emission would more firmly constrain models of disk accretion near black holes,
as well as provide observational criteria by which to test general relativity
in the strong field limit. Here we provide an introduction to this phenomenon.
While the presentation is intended to be primarily tutorial in nature, we aim
also to acquaint the reader with trends in current research. To achieve these
ends, we present the basic applications of general relativity that pertain to
X-ray spectroscopic observations of black hole accretion disk systems, focusing
on the Schwarzschild and Kerr solutions to the Einstein field equations. To
this we add treatments of the fundamental concepts associated with the
theoretical and modeling aspects of accretion disks, as well as relevant topics
from observational and theoretical X-ray spectroscopy.Comment: 63 pages, 21 figures, Einstein Centennial Review Article, Canadian
Journal of Physics, in pres
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Two-photon physics and the coming generation of heavy ion colliders
The possibilities for two-photon physics at the coming generation of heavy ion colliders is discussed. Particular attention is given to both e{sup +}, e{sup {minus}} production and resonance production of the Higgs particle. For e{sup +},e{sup {minus}} production the inadequacy of traditional perturbation theory is outlined, and through of the introduction of approximations valid for heavy ions it is shown how to sum a class of non-perturbative diagrams. The role of the nuclear form factor in suppressing the cross section for the heaviest resonances is also discussed. It is shown how this latter point affects the two-photon cross sections for W{sup +},W{sup {minus}} and Higgs production at RHIC, LHC and SSC energies