Quantum seminar | 25 September 2024

Spontaneous vacuum decay in a supercritical Coulomb field is a fundamental quantum electrodynamical phenomenon. Experimental scenario that allows its manifestation can be realized in collisions of heavy nuclei with the total charge number exceeding the critical value, which is approximately equal to 173. When in such collisions the nuclei get close enough to each other the electrically neutral vacuum state becomes unstable and can decay into a charged vacuum and two positrons. Observation of these positrons originating from the vacuum decay is greatly hindered by dynamical positron production due to the time-dependent potential of the moving nuclei. Here we consider a method that allows one to see clear signatures of the transition to the supercritical regime where spontaneous vacuum decay occurs.

Main paper/arXiv, related to the seminar, and other references:

1. R.V. Popov et al., "How to access QED at a supercritical Coulomb field", Physical Review D 102, 076005 (2020)
2. R.V. Popov et al., "Spontaneous vacuum decay in low-energy collisions of heavy nuclei beyond the monopole approximation", Physical Review D 107, 116014 (2023)
3. N.K. Dulaev et al., "Angular and energy distributions of positrons created in subcritical and supercritical slow collisions of heavy nuclei", Physical Review D 109, 036008 (2024)