How to observe the vacuum decay in low-energy heavy-ion collisions

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: Maltsev, I A, Shabaev, V M, Popov, R V, Kozhedub, Y S, Plunien, G, X Ma, Stöhlker, Th, Tumakov, D A
• Format: Paper Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 18.08.2019
• Subjects: Decay rate; Heavy nuclei; Ionic collisions; Pair production; Physics - Atomic Physics; Positrons; Spontaneous emission
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1903.08546

In slow collisions of two bare nuclei with the total charge larger than the critical value \(Z_{\rm cr} \approx 173\), the initially neutral vacuum can spontaneously decay into the charged vacuum and two positrons. Detection of the spontaneous emission of positrons would be the direct evidence of this fundamental phenomenon. However, the spontaneously produced particles are indistinguishable from the dynamical background in the positron spectra. We show that the vacuum decay can nevertheless be observed via impact-sensitive measurements of pair-production probabilities. Possibility of such observation is demonstrated using numerical calculations of pair production in low-energy collisions of heavy nuclei.