Effective energy-momentum tensor of strong-field QED with unstable vacuum

We study the influence of a vacuum instability on the effective energy-momentum tensor (EMT) of QED, in the presence of a quasiconstant external electric field, by means of the relevant Green functions. In the case when the initial vacuum, |0,in>, differs essentially from the final vacuum, |0,out>, we find explicitly and compared both the vacuum average value of EMT, , and the matrix element, . In the course of the calculation we solve the problem of the special divergences connected with infinite time T of acting of the constant electric field. The EMT of pair created by an electric field from the initial vacuum is presented. The relations of the obtained expressions to the Euler-Heisenberg's effective action are established.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, Talk given at "QFEXT'05", the 7-th workshop on quantum field theory under the influence of external conditions, Barcelona, Spain, Sept. 5-9, 2005; minor misprints correcte

Pair production from the vacuum by a weakly inhomogeneous space-dependent electric potential step

There exists a clear physical motivation for theoretical studies of the vacuum instability related to the production of electron-positron pairs from a vacuum due to strong external electric fields. Various nonperturbative (with respect to the external fields) calculation methods were developed. Some of these methods are based on possible exact solutions of the Dirac equation. Unfortunately, there are only few cases when such solutions are known. Recently, an approximate but still nonperturbative approach to treat the vacuum instability caused by slowly varying $t$-electric potential steps (time dependent external fields that vanish as $|t|\rightarrow\infty$), which does not depend on the existence of the corresponding exact solutions, was formulated in Ref. [S. P. Gavrilov, D. M. Gitman, Phys. Rev. D \textbf{95}, 076013 (2017)]. Here, we present an approximate calculation method to treat nonperturbatively the vacuum instability in arbitrary weakly inhomogeneous $x$-electric potential steps (time-independent electric fields of a constant direction that are concentrated in restricted space areas, which means that the fields vanish as $|x|\rightarrow\infty$) in the absence of the corresponding exact solutions. Defining the weakly inhomogeneous regime in general terms, we demonstrate the universal character of the vacuum instability. This universality is associated with a large density of states excited from the vacuum by the electric field. Such a density appears in our approach as a large parameter. We derive universal representations for the total number and current density of the created particles. Relations of these representations with a locally constant field approximation for Schwinger's effective action are found.Comment: 17 pages; misprints corrected, misprints corrected, the title slightly changed during review process; version accepted for publicatio

Particle scattering and vacuum instability by exponential steps

Particle scattering and vacuum instability in a constant inhomogeneous electric field of particular peak configuration that consists of two (exponentially increasing and exponentially decreasing) independent parts are studied. It presents a new kind of external field where exact solutions of the Dirac and Klein-Gordon equations can be found. We obtain and analyze in- and out-solutions of the Dirac and Klein-Gordon equations in this configuration. By their help we calculate probabilities of particle scattering and characteristics of the vacuum instability. In particular, we consider in details three configurations: a smooth peak, a sharp peak, and a strongly asymmetric peak configuration. We find asymptotic expressions for total mean numbers of created particles and for vacuum-to-vacuum transition probability. We discuss a new regularization of the Klein step by the sharp peak and compare this regularization with another one given by the Sauter potential.Comment: 35 pages, 2 figures. misprints corrected, version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1511.02915, arXiv:1605.0907

States of charged quantum fields and their statistical properties in the presence of critical potential steps

Evolution of charged quantum fields under the action of constant nonuniform electric fields is studied. To this end we construct a special generating functional for density operators of the quantum fields with different initial conditions. Then we study some reductions of the density operators. For example, reductions to electron or positron subsystems, reduction induced by measurements, and spatial reduction to the left or to the right subsystems of final particles. We calculate von Neumann entropy for the corresponding reduced density operators, estimating in such a way an information loss. Then we illustrate the obtained results by calculations in a specific background of a strong constant electric field between two infinite capacitor plates separated by a finite distance $L$.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures; misprints corrected, most of the auxiliary formulas are transferred to appendixes, version accepted for publication in PR

One-loop energy-momentum tensor in QED with electric-like background

We have obtained nonperturbative one-loop expressions for the mean energy-momentum tensor and current density of Dirac's field on a constant electric-like background. One of the goals of this calculation is to give a consistent description of back-reaction in such a theory. Two cases of initial states are considered: the vacuum state and the thermal equilibrium state. First, we perform calculations for the vacuum initial state. In the obtained expressions, we separate the contributions due to particle creation and vacuum polarization. The latter contributions are related to the Heisenberg-Euler Lagrangian. Then, we study the case of the thermal initial state. Here, we separate the contributions due to particle creation, vacuum polarization, and the contributions due to the work of the external field on the particles at the initial state. All these contributions are studied in detail, in different regimes of weak and strong fields and low and high temperatures. The obtained results allow us to establish restrictions on the electric field and its duration under which QED with a strong constant electric field is consistent. Under such restrictions, one can neglect the back-reaction of particles created by the electric field. Some of the obtained results generalize the calculations of Heisenberg-Euler for energy density to the case of arbitrary strong electric fields.Comment: 35 pages; misprints in the sign in definitions (40)-(43), and (68) corrected, results unchange

On Quantization of Time-Dependent Systems with Constraints

The Dirac method of canonical quantization of theories with second class constraints has to be modified if the constraints depend on time explicitly. A solution of the problem was given by Gitman and Tyutin. In the present work we propose an independent way to derive the rules of quantization for these systems, starting from physical equivalent theory with trivial non-stationarity.Comment: 4 page

QED in external field with space-time uniform invariants: Exact solutions

We study exact solutions of Dirac and Klein-Gordon equations and Green functions in d-dimensional QED and in an external electromagnetic field with constant and homogeneous field invariants. The cases of even and odd dimensions are considered separately, they are essentially different. We direct attention to the asymmetry of the quasienergy spectrum, which appears in odd dimensions. The in and out classification of the exact solutions as well as the completeness and orthogonality relations is strictly proven. Different Green functions in the form of sums over the exact solutions are constructed. The Fock-Schwinger proper time integral representations of these Green functions are found. As physical applications we consider the calculations of different quantum effects related to the vacuum instability in the external field. For example, we present mean values of particles created from the vacuum, the probability of the vacuum remaining a vacuum, the effective action, and the expectation values of the current and energy-momentum tensor