Pair creation by a photon in a strong magnetic field

Abstract

The process of pair creation by a photon in a strong magnetic field is investigated basing on the polarization operator in the field. The total probability of the process is found in a relatively simple form. The probability exhibits a "saw-tooth" pattern because of divergences arising when the electron and positron are created at threshold of the Landau energy levels. The pattern will be washed out at averaging over any smooth photon energy distribution. The new results are obtained in the scope of the quasiclassical approach: 1) in the case when the magnetic field $B \ll B_0, (B_0$ is the critical field) the new formulation extends the photon energy interval to the case when the created particles are not ultrarelativistic; 2) the correction to the standard quasiclassical approximation is found showing the range of applicability of the approach at high photon energy as well. The very important conclusion is that for both cases $B \ll B_0$ and $B \geq B_0$ the results of the quasiclassical calculation are very close to averaged probabilities of exact theory in a very wide range of photon energies. The quasiclassical approximation is valid also for the energy distribution if the electron and positron are created on enough high levels.