The vacuum state functional of interacting string field theory

We show that the vacuum state functional for both open and closed string field theories can be constructed from the vacuum expectation values it must generate. The method also applies to quantum field theory and as an application we give a diagrammatic description of the equivalance between Schrodinger and covariant repreresentations of field theory.Comment: 15 pages, 35 .eps figure

Localisation in worldline pair production and lightfront zero-modes

7 pages, 2 pdf figures. Version 3: minor update to simplify presentation, results and conclusions unchangedThe nonperturbative probability of pair production in electric fields depending on lightfront time is given exactly by the locally constant approximation. We explain this by showing that the worldline path integral defining the effective action contains a constraint, which localises contributing paths on hypersurfaces of constant lightfront time. These paths are lightfront zero-modes and there can be no pair production without them; the effective action vanishes if they are projected out

Backreaction on background fields: A coherent state approach

There are many situations in which a strong electromagnetic field may be approximated as a fixed background. Going beyond this approximation, i.e. accounting for the back-reaction of quantum process on the field, is however challenging. Here we develop an approach to this problem which is a straightforward extension of background field methods. The approach follows from the observation that scattering in an on-shell background is equivalent to scattering between coherent states; we show that by deforming these states one can model back-reaction. Focussing on intense laser-matter interactions, we provide examples which model beam depletion and, furthermore, introduce an extremisation principle with which to determine the level of depletion in a given scattering process.Comment: 16 pages, 6 pdf figure

Exact Classical and Quantum Dynamics in Background Electromagnetic Fields

Analytic results for (Q)ED processes in external fields are limited to a few special cases, such as plane waves. However, the strong focussing of intense laser fields implies a need to go beyond the plane wave model. By exploiting Poincar\'e symmetry and superintegrability we show how to construct, and solve without approximation, new models of laser-particle interactions. We illustrate the method with a model of a radially polarised (TM) laser beam, for which we exactly determine the classical orbits and quantum wave functions. Including in this way the effects of transverse field structure should improve predictions and analyses for experiments at intense laser facilities.Comment: 6 pages, 3 pdf figure

Prospects for studying vacuum polarisation using dipole and synchrotron radiation

The measurement of vacuum polarisation effects, in particular vacuum birefringence, using combined optical and x-ray laser pulses is now actively pursued. Here we briefly examine the feasibility of two alternative setups. The first utilises an alternative target, namely a converging dipole pulse, and the second uses an alternative probe, namely the synchrotron-like emission from highly energetic particles, themselves interacting with a laser pulse. The latter setup has been proposed for experiments at ELI-NP.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to the special issue "Ultra-high Field Physics With Lasers" of the Journal of Plasma Physic

Nonperturbative pair production in interpolating fields

13 pages, 10 figuresWe compare the effects of timelike, lightlike and spacelike one-dimensional inhomogeneities on the probability of nonperturbative pair production in strong fields. Using interpolating coordinates we give a unifying picture in which the effect of the inhomogeneity is encoded in branch cuts and poles circulated by complex worldline instantons. For spacelike inhomogeneities the length of the cut is related to the existence of critical points, while for lightlike inhomogeneities the cut contracts to a pole and the instantons become contractable to points, leading to simplifications particular to the lightlike case. We calculate the effective action in fields with up to three nonzero components, and investigate its behaviour under changes in field dependence

The analytic structure of amplitudes on backgrounds from gauge invariance and the infra-red

Gauge invariance and soft limits can be enough to determine the analytic structure of scattering amplitudes in certain theories. This prompts the question of how gauge invariance is connected to analytic structure in more general theories. Here we focus on QED in background plane waves. We show that imposing gauge invariance introduces new virtuality poles into internal momenta on which amplitudes factorise into a series of terms. Each term is gauge invariant, has a different analytic structure in external momenta, and exhibits a hard/soft factorisation. The introduced poles are dictated by infra-red behaviour, which allows us to extend our results to scalar Yukawa theory. The background is treated non-perturbatively throughout.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures. V2: added references. V3: Updated to match published version appearing in JHEP [JHEP 04 (2020) 078

Renormalisation group flow of the Jaynes-Cummings model

6 pages, 5 pdf figures. Version 2: expanded discussion of several points, typos fixed. To appear in Phys.Rev.LettThe Jaynes-Cummings model is a cornerstone of light-matter interactions. While finite, the model provides an illustrative example of renormalisation in perturbation theory. We show, however, that exact renormalisation reveals a rich non-perturbative structure, and that the model provides a physical example of a theory with a chaotic coupling trajectory and multi-valued beta-function. We also construct an exact Wilsonian-like renormalisation group flow for the effective scattering matrix, and show how multi-valued features arise in the flow. Our results shed light on non-perturbative aspects of renormalisation and on the structure of the Jaynes-Cummings model itself

Trident pair production in strong laser pulses

We calculate the trident pair production amplitude in a strong laser background. We allow for finite pulse duration, while still treating the laser fields nonperturbatively in strong-field QED. Our approach reveals explicitly the individual contributions of the one-step and two-step processes. We also expose the role gauge invariance plays in the amplitudes and discuss the relation between our results and the optical theorem.Comment: 4 pages, 1 .eps figure. Version 2: reference added, published versio

Pair production from residues of complex worldline instantons

6 pages, 3 pdf/png figures. Matches journal versionWe study nonperturbative pair production in electric fields with lightlike inhomogeneities, using complex worldline instantons. We show that the instanton contribution to the pair production probability is a complex contour integral over the instanton itself, and that pair production in the considered fields can be recast in terms of Cauchy's residue theorem. The instantons contribute residues from the poles they circulate (i.e. give local contributions), and the invariance of complex integrals under contour deformation manifests in the instanton contributions as invariance under a set of generalised, complex, reparameterisations