No Arabic abstract
The heavy ion cross section for continuum e+ e- pair production has been calculated to all orders in Z alpha. Comparison is made with available CERN SPS and RHIC STAR data. Computed cross sections are found to be reduced from perturbation theory with increasing charge of the colliding heavy ions and for all energy and momentum regions investigated. Au or Pb total cross sections are reduced by 28% (SPS), 17% (RHIC),and 11% (LHC). For very high energy (E_e+, E_e- > 3 GeV) forward pairs at LHC the reduction from perturbation theory is a bit larger (17%). Use of zero degree calorimeter triggering (and thus small impact parameter weighting) makes impact parameter representation of exact pair production useful. Preliminary exact calculations in the zero impact parameter limit show a much larger reduction from perturbation theory (about 40%) at both RHIC and LHC.
The heavy ion total cross section for continuum e+ e- pair production has been calculated to all orders in Z alpha. The formula resulting from an exact solution of the semiclassical Dirac equation in the ultrarelativistic limit is evaluated numerically. An energy dependent spatial cutoff of the heavy ion potential is utilized, leading to an exact formula agreeing with the known perturbative formula in the ultrarelativistic, perturbative limit. Cross sections and sample momentum distributions are evaluated for heavy ion beams at SPS, RHIC, and LHC energies. e+ e- pair production probabilities are found to be reduced from perturbation theory with increasing charge of the colliding heavy ions and for all energy and momentum regions investigated.
The heavy ion probability for continuum e+ e- pair production has been calculated to all orders in Z alpha as a function of impact parameter. The formula resulting from an exact solution of the semiclassical Dirac equation in the ultrarelativistic limit is evaluated numerically. In a calculation of gamma = 100 colliding Au ions the probability of e+ e- pair production is reduced from the perturbation theory result throughout the impact parameter range.
The correction to the Coulomb energy due to virtual production of $e^+e^-$ pairs, which is on the order of one percent of the Coulomb energy at nuclear scales is discussed. The effects of including a pair-production term in the semi-empirical mass formula and the correction to the Coulomb barrier for a handful of nuclear collisions using the Bass and Coulomb potentials are studied. With an eye toward future work using Constrained Molecular Dynamics (CoMD) model, we also calculate the correction to the Coulomb energy and force between protons after folding with a Gaussian spatial distribution.
A new search for production of correlated e+e- pairs in the alpha decay of 241Am has been carried out deep underground at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the I.N.F.N. by using pairs of NaI(Tl) detectors of the DAMA/LIBRA set-up. The experimental data show an excess of double coincidences of events with energy around 511 keV in faced pairs of detectors, which are not explained by known side reactions. This measured excess gives a relative activity lambda = (4.70 pm 0.63) times 10^{-9} for the Internal Pair Production (IPP) with respect to alpha decay of 241Am; this value is of the same order of magnitude as previous determinations. In a conservative approach the upper limit lambda < 5.5 times 10^{-9} (90% C.L.) can be derived. It is worth noting that this is the first result on IPP obtained in an underground experiment, and that the lambda value obtained in the present work is independent on the live-time estimate.
Lowest order and higher order QED calculations have been carried out for the RHIC high mass e+ e- pairs observed by PHENIX with single ZDC triggers. The lowest order QED results for the experimental acceptance are about two standard deviations larger than the PHENIX data. Corresponding higher order QED calculations are within one standard deviation of the data.