981 research outputs found
Pair creation: back-reactions and damping
We solve the quantum Vlasov equation for fermions and bosons, incorporating
spontaneous pair creation in the presence of back-reactions and collisions.
Pair creation is initiated by an external impulse field and the source term is
non-Markovian. A simultaneous solution of Maxwell's equation in the presence of
feedback yields an internal current and electric field that exhibit plasma
oscillations with a period tau_pl. Allowing for collisions, these oscillations
are damped on a time-scale, tau_r, determined by the collision frequency.
Plasma oscillations cannot affect the early stages of the formation of a
quark-gluon plasma unless tau_r >> tau_pl and tau_pl approx. 1/Lambda_QCD
approx 1 fm/c.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure, REVTEX, epsfig.st
Particle Production and Effective Thermalization in Inhomogeneous Mean Field Theory
As a toy model for dynamics in nonequilibrium quantum field theory we
consider the abelian Higgs model in 1+1 dimensions with fermions. In the
approximate dynamical equations, inhomogeneous classical (mean) Bose fields are
coupled to quantized fermion fields, which are treated with a mode function
expansion. The effective equations of motion imply e.g. Coulomb scattering, due
to the inhomogeneous gauge field. The equations are solved numerically. We
define time dependent fermion particle numbers with the help of the single-time
Wigner function and study particle production starting from inhomogeneous
initial conditions. The particle numbers are compared with the Fermi-Dirac
distribution parametrized by a time dependent temperature and chemical
potential. We find that the fermions approximately thermalize locally in time.Comment: 16 pages + 6 eps figures, some clarifications and two references
added, typos corrected; to appear in Phys.Rev.
Pair Creation and an X-ray Free Electron Laser
Using a quantum kinetic equation coupled to Maxwell's equation we study the
possibility that focused beams at proposed X-ray free electron laser facilities
can generate electric field strengths large enough to cause spontaneous
electron-positron pair production from the QED vacuum. Our approach yields the
time and momentum dependence of the single particle distribution function.
Under conditions reckoned achievable at planned facilities, repeated cycles of
particle creation and annihilation take place in tune with the laser frequency.
However, the peak particle number density is insensitive to this frequency and
one can anticipate the production of a few hundred particle pairs per laser
period. Field-current feedback and quantum statistical effects are small and
can be neglected in this application of non-equilibrium quantum mean field
theory.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX2
Quantum scalar field in FRW Universe with constant electromagnetic background
We discuss massive scalar field with conformal coupling in
Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) Universe of special type with constant
electromagnetic field. Treating an external gravitational-electromagnetic
background exactly, at first time the proper-time representations for out-in,
in-in, and out-out scalar Green functions are explicitly constructed as
proper-time integrals over the corresponding (complex) contours. The
vacuum-to-vacuum transition amplitudes and number of created particles are
found and vacuum instability is discussed. The mean values of the current and
energy-momentum tensor are evaluated, and different approximations for them are
investigated. The back reaction of the particles created to the electromagnetic
field is estimated in different regimes. The connection between proper-time
method and effective action is outlined. The effective action in scalar QED in
weakly-curved FRW Universe (De Sitter space) with weak constant electromagnetic
field is found as derivative expansion over curvature and electromagnetic field
strength. Possible further applications of the results are briefly mentioned.Comment: 38 pages, LaTe
Initial Time Singularities in Non-Equilibrium Evolution of Condensates and Their Resolution in the Linearized Approximation
The real time non-equilibrium evolution of condensates in field theory
requires an initial value problem specifying an initial quantum state or
density matrix. Arbitrary specifications of the initial quantum state (pure or
mixed) results in initial time singularities which are not removed by the usual
renormalization counterterms. We study the initial time singularities in the
linearized equation of motion for the scalar condensate in a renormalizable
Yukawa theory in 3+1 dimensions. In this renormalizable theory the initial time
singularities are enhanced. We present a consistent method for removing these
initial time singularities by specifying initial states where the distribution
of high energy quanta is determined by the initial conditions and the
interaction effects. This is done through a Bogoliubov transformation which is
consistently obtained in a perturbative expansion.The usual renormalization
counterterms and the proper choice of the Bogoliubov coefficients lead to a
singularity free evolution equation. We establish the relationship between the
evolution equations in the linearized approximation and linear response theory.
It is found that only a very specific form of the external source for linear
response leads to a real time evolution equation which is singularity free. We
focus on the evolution of spatially inhomogeneous scalar condensates by
implementing the initial state preparation via a Bogoliubov transformation up
to one-loop. As a concrete application, the evolution equation for an
inhomogenous condensate is solved analytically and the results are carefully
analyzed. Symmetry breaking by initial quantum states is discussed.Comment: LaTex, 26 pages, 2 .ps figure
A kinetic approach to eta' production from a CP-odd phase
The production of (eta,eta')- mesons during the decay of a CP-odd phase is
studied within an evolution operator approach. We derive a quantum kinetic
equation starting from the Witten-DiVecchia-Veneziano Lagrangian for
pseudoscalar mesons containing a U_A(1) symmetry breaking term. The non-linear
vacuum mean field for the flavour singlet pseudoscalar meson is treated as a
classical, self-interacting background field with fluctuations assumed to be
small. The numerical solution provides the time evolution of momentum
distribution function of produced eta'- mesons after a quench at the
deconfinement phase transition. We show that the time evolution of the momentum
distribution of the produced mesons depend strongly on the shape of the
effective potential at the end of the quench, exhibiting either parametric or
tachyonic resonances. Quantum statistical effects are essential and lead to a
pronounced Bose enhancement of the low momentum states.Comment: 10 pages, latex, epsfig, 6 figure
Quantum spinor field in the FRW universe with a constant electromagnetic background
The article is a natural continuation of our paper {\em Quantum scalar field
in FRW Universe with constant electromagnetic background}, Int. J. Mod. Phys.
{\bf A12}, 4837 (1997). We generalize the latter consideration to the case of
massive spinor field, which is placed in FRW Universe of special type with a
constant electromagnetic field. To this end special sets of exact solutions of
Dirac equation in the background under consideration are constructed and
classified. Using these solutions representations for out-in, in-in, and
out-out spinor Green functions are explicitly constructed as proper-time
integrals over the corresponding contours in complex proper-time plane. The
vacuum-to-vacuum transition amplitude and number of created particles are found
and vacuum instability is discussed. The mean values of the current and
energy-momentum tensor are evaluated, and different approximations for them are
presented. The back reaction related to particle creation and to the
polarization of the unstable vacuum is estimated in different regimes.Comment: 36 pages, LaTex fil
The Quantum Vlasov Equation and its Markov Limit
The adiabatic particle number in mean field theory obeys a quantum Vlasov
equation which is nonlocal in time. For weak, slowly varying electric fields
this particle number can be identified with the single particle distribution
function in phase space, and its time rate of change is the appropriate
effective source term for the Boltzmann-Vlasov equation. By analyzing the
evolution of the particle number we exhibit the time structure of the particle
creation process in a constant electric field, and derive the local form of the
source term due to pair creation. In order to capture the secular Schwinger
creation rate, the source term requires an asymptotic expansion which is
uniform in time, and whose longitudinal momentum dependence can be approximated
by a delta function only on long time scales. The local Vlasov source term
amounts to a kind of Markov limit of field theory, where information about
quantum phase correlations in the created pairs is ignored and a reversible
Hamiltonian evolution is replaced by an irreversible kinetic one. This
replacement has a precise counterpart in the density matrix description, where
it corresponds to disregarding the rapidly varying off-diagonal terms in the
adiabatic number basis and treating the more slowly varying diagonal elements
as the probabilities of creating pairs in a stochastic process. A numerical
comparison between the quantum and local kinetic approaches to the dynamical
backreaction problem shows remarkably good agreement, even in quite strong
electric fields, over a large range of times.Comment: 49 pages, RevTex/LaTeX2e, 8 .eps figures included in 404KB .gz file
(~3MB total uncompressed). Replacement added \tightenpages command to reduce
from 67 to 49 p
Equilibrium and nonequilibrium properties associated with the chiral phase transition at finite density in the Gross-Neveu Model
We study the dynamics of the chiral phase transition at finite density in the
Gross-Neveu (GN) model in the leading order in large-N approximation. The phase
structure of the GN model in this approximation has the property that there is
a tricritical point at a fixed temperature and chemical potential separating
regions where the chiral transition is first order from that where it is second
order. We consider evolutions starting in local thermal and chemical
equilibrium in the massless unbroken phase for conditions pertaining to
traversing a first or second order phase transition. We assume boost invariant
kinematics and determine the evolution of the order parameter , the
energy density and pressure as well as the effective temperature, chemical
potential and interpolating number densities as a function of the proper time
. We find that before the phase transition, the system behaves as if it
were an ideal fluid in local thermal equilibrium with equation of state
. After the phase transition, the system quickly reaches its true
broken symmetry vacuum value for the fermion mass and for the energy density.
The single particle distribution functions for Fermions and anti-Fermions go
far out of equilibrium as soon as the plasma traverses the chiral phase
transition. We have also determined the spatial dependence of the "pion"
Green's function as a function of the proper time.Comment: 39 pages, 23 figure
Evolution of Inhomogeneous Condensates after Phase Transitions
Using the O(4) linear model, we address the topic of non-equilibrium
relaxation of an inhomogeneous initial configuration due to quantum and thermal
fluctuations. The space-time evolution of an inhomogeneous fluctuation of the
condensate in the isoscalar channel decaying via the emission of pions in the
medium is studied within the context of disoriented chiral condensates. We use
out of equilibrium closed time path methods in field theory combined with the
amplitude expansion. We give explicit expressions for the asymptotic space-time
evolution of an initial inhomogeneous configuration including the contribution
of thresholds at zero and non-zero temperature. At non-zero temperature we find
new relaxational processes due to thermal cuts that have no counterpart in the
homogeneous case. Within the one-loop approximation, we find that the space
time evolution of such inhomogeneous configuration out of equilibrium is
effectively described in terms of a rapidity dependent temperature
as well as a rapidity dependent decay rate
. This rate is to be interpreted as the
production minus absorption rate of pions in the medium and approaches the zero
temperature value at large rapidities. An initial configuration localized on a
bounded region spreads and decays in spherical waves with slower relaxational
dynamics at large rapidity.Comment: 25 pages Revtex 3.0, two figures available upon reques
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