The influence of electron-electron interaction on pair production in supercritical collisions of highly charged ions

Abstract

The effect of electron-electron interaction on positron emission in supercritical collisions of highly charged ions is studied within the monopole approximation using the time-dependent density functional theory and the time-dependent Hartree-Fock-Slater methods. Positron production probabilities and energy spectra are calculated for U-U, U-Cm, and Cm-Cm collision systems, considering both bare nuclei and highly charged ions with partially filled electron shells. The results demonstrate that electron screening substantially reduces positron production and suppresses the characteristic signatures of spontaneous vacuum decay, previously found in collisions of bare nuclei.