Photon polarisation in light-by-light scattering: finite size effects

Bibliographic Details
Title: Photon polarisation in light-by-light scattering: finite size effects
Authors: Dinu, Victor, Heinzl, Tom, Ilderton, Anton, Marklund, Mattias, Torgrimsson, Greger
Source: Phys. Rev. D 90 (2014) 045025
Publication Year: 2014
Collection: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Physics (Other)
Subject Terms: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology, High Energy Physics - Theory, Physics - Optics
More Details: We derive a simple expression for the photon helicity and polarisation-flip probabilities in arbitrary background fields, in the low energy regime. Taking the background to model a focused laser beam, we study the impact of pulse shape and collision geometry on the probabilities and on ellipticity signals of vacuum birefringence. We find that models which do not account for pulse duration can overestimate all signals in near head-on collisions by up to an order of magnitude. Taking pulse duration into account, the flip probability becomes relatively insensitive to both angular incidence and the fine details of the pulse structure.
Comment: 10 pages, 9 jpg and pdf figures. Version 2: added references and extended discussion of ellipticity and collision angle dependence. Matches version to appear in PRD
Document Type: Working Paper
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.90.045025
Access URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/1405.7291
Accession Number: edsarx.1405.7291
Database: arXiv
More Details
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevD.90.045025