Sauter-Schwinger Effect for Colliding Laser Pulses

Abstract

Via a combination of analytical and numerical methods, we study electron-positron pair creation by the electromagnetic field A(t,r)=[f(ct-x)+f(ct+x)]ey of two colliding laser pulses. Employing a generalized Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin approach, we find that the pair creation rate along the symmetry plane x=0 (where one would expect the maximum contribution) displays the same exponential dependence as for a purely time-dependent electric field A(t)=2f(ct)ey. The prefactor in front of this exponential does also contain corrections due to focusing or defocusing effects induced by the spatially inhomogeneous magnetic field. We compare our analytical results to numerical simulations using the Dirac-Heisenberg-Wigner method and find good agreement.