Quantum Coherence and Giant Enhancement of Positron Channeling Radiation

Quantum Physics [Submitted on 29 Mar 2026] Quantum Coherence and Giant Enhancement of Positron Channeling Radiation Michael Shatnev We present a quantum-mechanical calculation of positron channeling radiation in a planar harmonic potential, explicitly accounting for the interference between transition amplitudes from different transverse energy levels. Because the planar channel potential for positrons in diamond~(110) is well approximated by a parabola, the transverse spectrum is equidistant, \varepsilon_n = \Omega(n+\tfrac{1}{2}), and all n \to n{-}j transitions radiate at the same Doppler-shifted frequency. The entry of the positron into the crystal under the sudden approximation creates a Glauber coherent state with population amplitudes c_n. Phase synchronization between the c_n and the dipole matrix elements ensures that all occupied levels contribute constructively to the radiation amplitude, giving an intensity I_{\rm coh} \propto |A_j|^2 that exceeds the incoherent (Zhevago--Kumakhov) result by a factor \mathcal{G} = 12\text{--}31 for positron energies of 4\text{--}14~GeV in diamond~(110). Numerical results agree with the experimental peak positions of Avakyan \emph{et al.}~\cite{Avakyan1982}. The enhancement is unique to positrons because their nearly harmonic channel potential is not replicated for electrons. We propose a decisive experimental test of the coherent model based on the predicted nonlinear angular dependence of the peak intensity. The transition from N- to N^2-scaling of the radiated intensity, driven by quantum coherence, opens a route toward high-intensity monochromatic gamma-ray sources for nuclear physics and materials science. Comments: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Applies Glauber coherent-state formalism to explain the anomalous peak intensity in SLAC positron channeling experiments (Avakyan et al. 1982); predicts N-to-N^2 intensity scaling as an experimental signature Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex); Accelerator Physics (physics.acc-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2603.28827 [quant-ph]   (or arXiv:2603.28827v1 [quant-ph] for this version)   https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2603.28827 Focus to learn more Submission history From: Michael Shatnev [view email] [v1] Sun, 29 Mar 2026 17:16:28 UTC (219 KB) Access Paper: HTML (experimental) view license Current browse context: quant-ph < prev   |   next > new | recent | 2026-03 Change to browse by: hep-ex physics physics.acc-ph References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar Export BibTeX Citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Demos Related Papers About arXivLabs Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)