Shakeoff of the Vacuum Polarization in Quasimolecular Collisions of Very Heavy Ions

Gerhard Soff; Joachim Reinhardt; Berndt Müller; Walter Greiner

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.38.592

Shakeoff of the Vacuum Polarization in Quasimolecular Collisions of Very Heavy Ions

Gerhard Soff, Joachim Reinhardt, Berndt Müller, and Walter Greiner

Phys. Rev. Lett. 38, 592 – Published 14 March 1977

Abstract

The theory of direct electron-positron pair production in the collision of heavy ions is formulated in the framework of the quasimolecular model. The pair production process acquires a collective nature for $(Z_{1} + Z_{2}) α > 1$ and can be understood as the shakeoff of the strong vacuum polarization cloud formed in the quasimolecule. The total cross section is, e.g., 76 μb for Pb + Pb at Coulomb barrier energies.