Triple-vortex bremsstrahlung

Abstract

Particles in vortex states have gained arising interests due to the additional degree of freedom—the orbital angular momentum (OAM) inherently existing in the state. With the increasing energy of vortex particles (photons, leptons etc), the research has gradually transitioned from the classical field regime to collisions of vortex particles in the quantum-field regime. The latter provides a new way to study the rich properties of particle physics. Here, we show the characteristics of vortex states in bremsstrahlung by deriving the corresponding scattering probability following the quantum-electrodynamics theory. The theory allows us to obtain the OAM distribution of the outgoing vortex photon and the law of OAM transfer during interaction. It is shown that the generated photon takes most of the initial electron OAM, especially when the latter is more energetic. The opening angle of outgoing particles in vortex bremsstrahlung is also significantly different from plane wave scattering. The effects of polarization and non-zero impact parameter are also discussed. The results illustrate the unique feature of vortex scattering and suggest a feasible way to generate high-energy vortex photons—a novel source in studying nuclear physics.

Keywords

• vortex state
• bremsstrahlung
• QED scattering
• twisted gamma photon