Dynamically assisted Schwinger mechanism

We study electron-positron pair creation from the Dirac vacuum induced by a strong and slowly varying electric field (Schwinger effect) which is superimposed by a weak and rapidly changing electromagnetic field (dynamical pair creation). In the subcritical regime where both mechanisms separately are strongly suppressed, their combined impact yields a pair creation rate which is dramatically enhanced. Intuitively speaking, the strong electric field lowers the threshold for dynamical particle creation--or, alternatively, the fast electromagnetic field generates additional seeds for the Schwinger mechanism. These findings could be relevant for planned ultrahigh intensity lasers.     

Super Gaussian enhancers in the Schwinger mechanism

We study the Schwinger mechanism in the presence of an additional uniformly oriented, weak super Gaussian of integer order 4 N + 2. Using the worldline approach, we determine the relevant critical points to compute the leading order exponential factor analytically. We show that increasing the parameter N gives rise to a strong dynamical enhancement. For N=2, this effect turns out to be larger compared to a weak contribution of the Sauter type. For higher orders, specifically, for the rectangular barrier limit, i.e. N→∞, we approach the Lorentzian case as an upper bound. Although the mentioned backgrounds significantly differ in Minkowski spacetime, we show that the found coincidence applies due to identical reflection points in the Euclidean instanton plane. In addition, we also treat the background in perturbation theory following recent ideas. By doing so, we show that the parameter N determines whether the weak contribution behaves perturbatively or nonperturbatively with respect to the field strength ratio,and, hence, reveals an interesting dependence on the background shape. In particular, we show that for backgrounds, for which higher orders in the field strength ratio turn out to be relevant, a proposed integral condition is not fulfilled. In view of these findings, the latter may serve as an indicator for the necessity for higher-order contributions.     

Schwinger mechanism for gluon-pair production in the presence of arbitrary time-dependent chromo-electric field

We study the Schwinger mechanism for gluon-pair production in the presence of an arbitrary time-dependent chromo-electric background field E ^a (t) with arbitrary color index a=1,2,…,8 in SU(3) by directly evaluating the path integral. We obtain an exact expression for the probability of non-perturbative gluon-pair production per unit time per unit volume and per unit transverse momentum, , from arbitrary E ^a (t). We show that the tadpole (or single-gluon) effective action does not contribute to the non-perturbative gluon-pair production rate, . We find that the exact result for non-perturbative gluon-pair production is independent of all the time derivatives , where n=1,2,…,∞, and that it has the same functional dependence on the two Casimir invariants, [E ^a (t)E ^a (t)] and [d _abc E ^a (t)E ^b (t)E ^c (t)]², as the constant chromo-electric field E ^a result with the replacement: E ^a →E ^a (t). This result relies crucially on the validity of the shift conjecture, which has not yet been established. This result may be relevant to the study of the production of a non-perturbative quark–gluon plasma at RHIC and LHC.     

Schwinger model in the light-cone representation

Light-cone quantization of gauge field theory is considered. With a careful treatment of the relevant degrees of freedom and where they must be initialized, the results obtained in equal-time quantization are recovered, in particular the Mandelstam-Leibbrandt form of the gauge field propagator. Some aspects of the discretized light-cone quantization of gauge fields are discussed.     

Interference effects in nuclear fission

Various interference effects governing the character of angular distributions of binary and ternary nuclear fission products and P-odd, P-even, and T-odd asymmetries in these angular distributions have been studied within the quantum theory of spontaneous and low-energy induced nuclear fission.     

Schwinger mechanism of electron-positron pair production by the field of optical and X-ray lasers in vacuum

The probability W of e ⁺ e ^?-pair production in vacuum by an intense time-varying electric field created by optical or X-ray laser is calculated. Two characteristic regions γ?1 and γ?1 of adiabaticity parameter γ are considered. With an increase in γ and on passing from monochromatic radiation to a finite laser pulse, the probability W increases sharply (for the same field intensity). The dependence of the probability W and the electron and positron momentum spectrum on the pulse shape is discussed (the dynamic Schwinger effect).     

Nonlinear quantum critical transport and the Schwinger mechanism for a superfluid-mott-insulator transition of bosons

Scaling arguments imply that quantum-critical points exhibit universal nonlinear responses to external probes. We investigate the origins of such nonlinearities in transport, which is especially problematic since the system is necessarily driven far from equilibrium. We argue that for a wide class of systems the new ingredient that enters is the Schwinger mechanism--the production of carriers from the vacuum by the applied field--which is then balanced against a scattering rate that is itself set by the field. We show by explicit computation how this works for the case of the symmetric superfluid-Mott insulator transition of bosons.     

Physics of the Schwinger model

The Coulomb gas of massless fermions (Schwinger model) is solved in a one-dimensional space of finite lengthL using the boson representation of fermions. Special attention is paid to boundary effects and global degrees of freedom. It is shown that the mean current is not conserved, but oscillates. The theory is constructed in all charge sectors. The Wightman functions are calculated and the limitL is discussed.Work performed within the research program of the Sonderforschungsbereich 125, Aachen-Jülich-Köln     

Schwinger model in temporal gauge

Acta Physica Hungarica - Exact solution of the zero-mass Schwinger model is given in temporal gauge in the presence of arbitrary background charge density. The structure of the Hilbert space is...