Olavi Kiuru (Helsinki U), QED Cross Sections in Strong Magnetic Fields (Joint Seminar with HI Jena at 14:00, Fröbelstieg 3!)

Thursday 26 Nov 2026, 14:00 → 15:30 Europe/Berlin

The surface magnetic fields of magnetars, the most strongly magnetized >> neutron stars, can reach tens of times the critical Schwinger field >> B_Q=4.4*10^13 G. At such field strengths, the quantization of electron and

>> positron energies into Landau levels must be taken into account in the >> particle dynamics of the system. In this talk, I will present a >> Landau-level-based formalism for calculating QED scattering cross sections >> in a strong background magnetic field and discuss how the constant magnetic >> field case differs from a plane-wave background and vacuum QED. Most >> notably, the introduction of Landau levels leads to the cross sections >> acquiring new divergences that are not present in vacuum QED. These

>> divergences have to be regulated in a quantum-field-theoretically >> consistent manner, which requires the implementation of both loop >> corrections and unstable particle states into the calculations.