Dec 14 – 15, 2023
Centre for Particle Theory
Europe/London timezone

Scattering amplitudes and electromagnetic horizons

Not scheduled
20m
Centre for Particle Theory

Centre for Particle Theory

Department of Physics Durham University South Road Durham DH1 3LE
Long Talk (20 mins)

Speaker

William Lindved (University of Edinburgh)

Description

We consider the scattering of charged particles on particular electromagnetic fields which have properties analogous to gravitational horizons. Classically, particles become causally excluded from regions of spacetime beyond a null surface which we identify as the ‘electromagnetic horizon’. In the quantum theory there is pair production at the horizon via the Schwinger effect, but only one particle from the pair escapes the field. Furthermore, unitarity appears to be violated when crossing the horizon, suggesting there is no well-defined S-matrix. Despite this, we show how to use the perturbiner method to construct ‘amplitudes’ which contain all the dynamical information required to construct observables related to pair creation, and to radiation from particles scattering on the background.

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Primary author

William Lindved (University of Edinburgh)

Co-author

Dr Anton Ilderton (University of Edinburgh)

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