Photo-production of scalar particles in the field of a circularly polarized laser beam

The photo-production of a pair of scalar particles in the presence of an intense, circularly polarized laser beam is investigated. Using the optical theorem within the framework of scalar quantum electrodynamics, explicit expressions are given for the pair production probability in terms of the imaginary part of the vacuum polarization tensor. Its leading asymptotic behavior is determined for various limits of interest. The influence of the absence of internal spin degrees of freedom is analyzed via a comparison with the corresponding probabilities for production of spin-1/2 particles; the lack of spin is shown to suppress the pair creation rate, as compared to the predictions from Dirac theory. Potential applications of our results for the search of minicharged particles are indicated.