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Description
This study investigates the process of photon decay into an electron-positron pair in an external crossed electromagnetic field. The phenomenon is analyzed using the quasi-classical worldline instanton method.
The system of equations of motion has been solved for this field configuration.
The nature of the solutions has been analyzed depending on the relationship between the E and H fields, demonstrating the derivation of either trigonometric or hyperbolic solutions.
A formula for the effective action, S_eff, has been derived for this type of crossed field.
From the obtained equations of motion, particular cases previously described in Refs. [1] and [2] have been recovered. Furthermore, the case where the photon propagates perpendicularly to both the electric and magnetic field vectors—a configuration relevant to laser physics—has been derived.
A calculation and analysis of the electromagnetic field tensor invariants and their contractions with the photon momentum have been performed for crossed fields.
A qualitative and quantitative assessment has been provided regarding the astrophysical conditions under which the predicted effect could be observable.
