Abstract
Radiative and nonradiative electron spin-flip probabilities are analyzed in both plane wave and focused laser backgrounds. We provide a simple and physically transparent description of spin dynamics in plane waves, and demonstrate that there exists a kinematic regime in which the usual leading-order perturbative hierarchy of quantum electrodynamics is reversed, and nonradiative loop effects dominate over radiative tree-level spin flips. We show that while this loop dominance becomes suppressed in focused laser pulses due to a high sensitivity to field geometry, there is nevertheless a regime in which, in principle, loop effects on spin transitions can be discerned.
- Received 25 August 2020
- Accepted 30 September 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.102.076013
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.
Published by the American Physical Society