Fundamental physical features of resonant spontaneous bremsstrahlung radiation of ultrarelativistic electrons on nuclei in strong laser fields

Abstract

Theoretically predicted fundamental features in the process of resonant spontaneous bremsstrahlung radiation during the scattering of ultrarelativistic electrons with energies of the order $\sim 100\enspace \text{GeV}$ by the nuclei in strong laser fields with intensities up to I ∼ 10 ^24 W cm ^−2 . Under resonant conditions, an intermediate electron in the wave field enters the mass shell. As a result, the initial second-order process by the fine structure constant is effectively reduced to two first-order processes: laser-stimulated Compton effect and laser-assisted Mott process. The resonant kinematics for two reaction channels (A and B) is studied in detail. An analytical resonant differential cross-section with simultaneous registration of the frequency and the outgoing angle of a spontaneous gamma-quantum for channels A and B is obtained. The resonant differential cross section takes the largest value with a small number of absorbed laser photons. In this case, the resonant cross-section is determined by one parameter, depending on the small transmitted momenta, as well as the resonance width. In strong fields, spontaneous gamma quanta of small energies are most likely to be emitted compared to the energy of the initial electrons. At the same time, the angular width of the radiation of such gamma quanta is the largest. With an increase in the number of absorbed laser photons, the resonant cross-section decreases quite quickly, and the resonant frequency of spontaneous gamma quanta increases. It is shown that the resonant differential cross-section has the largest value in the region of average laser fields ( I ∼ 10 ^18 W cm ^−2 ) and can be of the order of $\sim 1{0}^{19}\enspace $ in units ${Z}^{2}\alpha {r}_{\mathrm{e}}^{2}$ . With an increase in the intensity of the laser wave, the value of the resonant differential cross-section ${R}_{\mathrm{r}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{max}}$ decreases and for the intensity I ∼ 10 ^24 W cm ^−2 is ${R}_{\mathrm{r}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{max}}\lesssim 1{0}^{7}$ in units ${Z}^{2}\alpha {r}_{\mathrm{e}}^{2}$ . The obtained results reveal new features of spontaneous emission of ultrarelativistic electrons on nuclei in strong laser fields and can be tested at international laser installations.

Keywords

• resonant spontaneous bremsstrahlung
• ultrarelativistic electrons
• strong laser fields
• nuclei
• laser-stimulated Compton effect
• laser-assisted Mott process