Relativistic three-body recombination with the QED vacuum.

Authors :: Hu H
Müller C
Source :: Physical review letters [Phys Rev Lett] 2011 Aug 26; Vol. 107 (9), pp. 090402. Date of Electronic Publication: 2011 Aug 25.
Publication Year :: 2011
Abstract: Electron-positron pair annihilation into a single photon is studied when a second free electron is present. Focussing on the relativistic regime, we show that the photon emitted in the three-lepton interaction may exhibit distinct angular distributions and polarization properties. Moreover, the process can dominate over two-photon annihilation in relativistic electron-positron plasmas of few-MeV temperature. An analogy with three-body recombination of electrons with ions is drawn.<br /> (© 2011 American Physical Society)