Experimental results for the radiation emission from ultrarelativistic electrons in targets of 0.03%-5% radiation length is presented. For the thinnest targets, the radiation emission is in accordance with the Bethe-Heitler formulation of bremsstrahlung, the target acting as a single scatterer. In this regime, the radiation intensity is proportional to the thickness. As the thickness increases, the distorted Coulomb field of the electron that is the result of the first scattering events, leads to a suppressed radiation emission per interaction, upon subsequent scattering events. In that case, the radiation intensity becomes proportional to a logarithmic function of the thickness, due to the suppression. Eventually, once the target becomes sufficiently thick, the entire radiation process becomes influenced by multiple scattering and the radiation intensity is again proportional to the thickness, but with a different constant of proportionality. The observed logarithmic thickness dependence of radiation intensity at intermediate values of the thickness can be directly interpreted as a manifestation of the distortion of the electron Coulomb field resulting from a scattering event. The Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effect is explored with high primary energy using materials with low nuclear charge (Z). Also, targets that should give rise to the claimed interference effect in high-energy radiation emission from a structured target of thin foils are investigated.

Experimental results for the restricted energy loss of pairs created from 1-178 GeV photons in a thin Au target and subsequently passing a CCD detector are presented. It is shown that pairs-when detected close to the creation vertex-suffer a reduced energy loss due to the internal screening of the charges constituting the pair. Furthermore, the ability to measure directly the energy of the pair by calorimetry enables a comparison with theory as a function of energy. The observed phenomenon is in good qualitative agreement with general expectations from the Chudakov effect but indicates a quantitative disagreement with either of two mutually disagreeing theories. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.164802 PACS numbers: 41.60.ÿm, 07.85.Fv, 29.40.Vj, 95.30.Gv In the preparatory phase of the CERN NA63 experiment, we have investigated the reduced energy deposition from a positron-electron pair in the vicinity of their creation point. This reduction is due to the internal screening of charges, the so-called Chudakov (or King-Perkins-Chudakov) effect [1,2].By taking into account the density effect, a considerable contribution to the ionization energy loss originates from transverse distances b q ' v=! p , where v is the particle speed through the medium with plasma frequency ! p . If a penetrating assembly of separate charges is internally spaced less than this distance, the ionization is influenced by interference terms. This can be the case, e.g., for an energetic hydrogen molecule that is stripped upon entry to the substance, but it can also be an effect present for an electron-positron pair where each participating charge screens the charge of the other as seen from the relevant distance b q in the medium. Because of the Lorentz transformation of angles to the laboratory system, the electron and positron emitted in the pair creation process from a photon of energy @! appear with an approximate angle of 1= mc 2 =E e ' 2mc 2 =@! to the photon momentum @k in the frame of the laboratory. Thus, by defining E e =@! and p @!=mc 2 , we get an opening angle of the pairthe so-called Borsellino angle [3]. The energy loss thus diminishes close to the creation point if the created pair is sufficiently energetic and therefore forward directed. This is the so-called Chudakov effect. In a sense, the Chudakov effect is the pair production analogue of the more familiar density effect in radiation emission.A closely related effect -to both the density effect ([4], Chap. 13.5) and the Chudakov effect-has recently been calculated for Cherenkov radiation emission from e e ÿ pairs in the vicinity of the creation point [5,6]. This internal screening effect may affect decisively the behavior of the Cherenkov emission in neutrino-induced electromagnetic showers. A similar reduction may apply in the case of vacuum-assisted photoionization [7], where the created pair that knocks out the electron may suffer internal screening, leading to a lower photoionization cross section. Finally, the radiation emission from relativistic positronium may be in...

The classical description of synchrotron radiation fails at large Lorentz factors, , for relativistic electrons crossing strong transverse magnetic fields B. In the rest frame of the electron this field is comparable to the so-called critical field B 0 ¼ 4:414 Â 10 9 T. For ¼ B=B 0 ' 1 quantum corrections are essential for the description of synchrotron radiation to conserve energy. With electrons of energies 10-150 GeV penetrating a germanium single crystal along the h110i axis, we have experimentally investigated the transition from the regime where classical synchrotron radiation is an adequate description, to the regime where the emission drastically changes character; not only in magnitude, but also in spectral shape. The spectrum can only be described by quantum synchrotron radiation formulas. Apart from being a test of strong-field quantum electrodynamics, the experimental results are also relevant for the design of future linear colliders where beamstrahlung-a closely related process-may limit the achievable luminosity.

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We show by experiment that an electron impinging on an electric field that is of critical magnitude in its rest frame, may produce an electron-positron pair. Our measurements address higher-order QED, using the strong electric fields obtainable along particular crystallographic directions in single crystals. For the amorphous material our data are in good agreement with theory, whereas a discrepancy with theory on the magnitude of the trident enhancement is found in the precisely aligned case where the strong electric field acts.