Bound-free pair production cross-section in heavy-ion colliders from the equivalent photon approach

Department of Physics, University of Basel - Klingelbergstrasse 82, 4056 Basel, Switzerland

Received: 8 November 2007
Accepted: 22 January 2008

Abstract

Exact calculations of the electron-positron pair production by a single photon in the Coulomb field of a nucleus with simultaneous capture of the electron into the K-shell are discussed for different nuclear charges. Using the equivalent photon method of Weizsäcker and Williams, a simple expression for the bound-free production of pairs by colliding very-high-energy fully stripped heavy ions is derived for nuclei of arbitrary charge.