13,167 research outputs found
Polarization of the electron and positron produced in combined Coulomb and strong laser fields
The process of production in the superposition of a Coulomb and a
strong laser field is considered. The pair production rate integrated over the
momentum and summed over the spin projections of one of the particles is
derived exactly in the parameters of the laser field and in the Born
approximation with respect to the Coulomb field. The case of a monochromatic
circularly polarized laser field is considered in detail. A very compact
analytical expression of the pair production rate and its dependence on the
polarization of one of the created particles is obtained in the quasiclassical
approximation for the experimentally relevant case of an undercritical laser
field. As a result, the polarization of the created electron (positron) is
derived.Comment: 16 pages, no figure
Pair Production Beyond the Schwinger Formula in Time-Dependent Electric Fields
We investigate electron-positron pair production in pulse-shaped electric
background fields using a non-Markovian quantum kinetic equation. We identify a
pulse-length range for subcritical fields still in the nonperturbative regime
where the number of produced pairs significantly exceeds that of a naive
expectation based on the Schwinger formula. From a conceptual viewpoint, we
find a remarkable quantitative agreement between the (real-time) quantum
kinetic approach and the (imaginary-time) effective action approach.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Typos corrected and references added, PRD Versio
Schwinger Pair Creation of Particles and Strings
I shortly review the worldline instanton method for calculating Schwinger
pair production rates in (i) one-loop QED (ii) multiloop QED and (iii) one-loop
open string theory.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, talk given at XIV Mexican School of Particles and
Fields, November 8 - 12, 2010, Morelia, Mexico, to appear in the conference
proceeding
Multidimensional Worldline Instantons
We extend the worldline instanton technique to compute the vacuum pair
production rate for spatially inhomogeneous electric background fields, with
the spatial inhomogeneity being genuinely two or three dimensional, both for
the magnitude and direction of the electric field. Other techniques, such as
WKB, have not been applied to such higher dimensional problems. Our method
exploits the instanton dominance of the worldline path integral expression for
the effective action.Comment: 22 pages, 13 figure
Improved Approximations for Fermion Pair Production in Inhomogeneous Electric Fields
Reformulating the instantons in a complex plane for tunneling or transmitting
states, we calculate the pair-production rate of charged fermions in a
spatially localized electric field, illustrated by the Sauter electric field
E_0 sech^2 (z/L), and in a temporally localized electric field such as E_0
sech^2 (t/T). The integration of the quadratic part of WKB instanton actions
over the frequency and transverse momentum leads to the pair-production rate
obtained by the worldline instanton method, including the prefactor, of Phys.
Rev. D72, 105004 (2005) and D73, 065028 (2006). It is further shown that the
WKB instanton action plus the next-to-leading order contribution in spinor QED
equals the WKB instanton action in scalar QED, thus justifying why the WKB
instanton in scalar QED can work for the pair production of fermions. Finally
we obtain the pair-production rate in a spatially localized electric field
together with a constant magnetic field in the same direction.Comment: RevTex, 12 pages, two figures; replaced by the version accepted in
Phys. Rev.
Critical nucleus charge in a superstrong magnetic field: effect of screening
A superstrong magnetic field stimulates the spontaneous production of
positrons by naked nuclei by diminishing the value of the critical charge
Z_{cr} . The phenomenon of screening of the Coulomb potential by a superstrong
magnetic field which has been discovered recently acts in the opposite
direction and prevents the nuclei with Z52
for a nucleus to become critical stronger B are needed than without taking
screening into account.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, version to be published in Physical Review
Momentum dependence in the dynamically assisted Sauter-Schwinger effect
Recently it has been found that the superposition of a strong and slow
electric field with a weaker and faster pulse can significantly enhance the
probability for non-perturbative electron-positron pair creation out of the
vacuum -- the dynamically assisted Sauter-Schwinger effect. Via the WKB method,
we estimate the momentum dependence of the pair creation probability and
compare it to existing numerical results. Besides the theoretical interest, a
better understanding of this pair creation mechanism should be helpful for the
planned experiments aiming at its detection.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX, 1 figur
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 sub-critical 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 ultra-high intensity lasers.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
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