Photon splitting and Compton scattering in strongly magnetized hot plasma

Abstract

The process of photon splitting is investigated in the presence of strongly magnetized electron-positron plasma. The amplitude of the process is calculated in the general case of plasma with a nonzero chemical potential and temperature. The polarization selection rules and corresponding partial amplitudes for allowed splitting channels are obtained in the case of charge-symmetric plasma. It is found that the new splitting channel forbidden in magnetized vacuum becomes allowed. The absorption rates of the photon splitting are calculated with taking into account the photon dispersion and wave function renormalization. In addition, the comparison of photon splitting and Compton scattering process is made. The influence of the reactions under consideration on the radiation transfer in the framework of the magnetar model of a soft gamma repeater burst is discussed.