Positrons from supercritical fields of giant nuclear systems

During collisions of heavy nuclei with a combined charge Z≳160 the electronic 1 s-state is deeply bound due to the strong Coulomb field, for Z≧173 it even enters as a resonance the lower continuum of the Dirac-Hamiltonian. In pure Rutherford scattering no qualitative indication for the filling of a dynamically created K-hole by the spontaneous positron creation process is predicted, but the study of heavy-ion collisions with nuclear time delay due to the attractive nuclear force promises clear signatures for the decay of the vacuum. Emphasis is laid also on the quantitative influence of the electron-electron interaction and of E0-transitions in the giant nuclear system on positron emission, the latter treated in a classical approximation. We compare our results with recent experimental data of two different groups at GSI, Darmstadt. © 1983 Springer-Verlag.

Duke Scholars

Author Berndt Mueller Physics