很久以前，施温格就推导出了带电费米子系统在固定的、外部的、空间均匀的电场中的真空持续概率$P_{vac}(t)$; $w = -log[P_{vac}(t)]/ (V t)$通常被认为是由于电场而产生的每单位体积的费米子-反费米子对的速率。在本文中，我们分别计算了$w$和每单位体积费米子-反费米子对产生率$Γ$的精确表达式，并表明它们不同。虽然$w$由标准Schwinger机制结果$w$给出，但一个无穷级数，对产生速率$Γ$只是该级数的第一项。我们的计算是对具有周期性边界条件的系统在$A_0=0$规范中进行的，但结果应该对任何一致的边界条件都成立。我们讨论了速率$w$和$Γ$不同的物理原因。
英文摘要：
The vacuum persistence probability, $P_{vac}(t)$, for a system of charged fermions in a fixed, external, and spatially homogeneous electric field, was derived long ago by Schwinger; $w = -log[P_{vac}(t)]/ (V t)$ has often been identified as the rate at which fermion-antifermion pairs are produced per unit volume due to the electric field. In this paper, we separately compute exact expressions for both $w$ and for the rate of fermion-antifermion pair production per unit volume, $Γ$, and show that they differ. While $w$ is given by the standard Schwinger mechanism result $w$, an infinite series, the pair production rate, $Γ$, is just the first term of that series. Our calculation is done for a system with periodic boundary conditions in the $A_0=0$ gauge but the result should hold for any consistent set of boundary conditions. We discuss, the physical reason why the rates $w$ and $Γ$ differ.
In this article, we review recent theoretical works on the Schwingermechanism of particle production in external electrical fields. Although the non-perturbative Schwinger mechanism is at the center of this discussion, many of the approaches that we discuss can cope with general time and space dependent fields, and therefore also capture the perturbative contributions to particle production.
We discuss gluon production by the Schwinger mechanism in collinear color-electric and magnetic fields which may be realized in pre-equilibrium stages of ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Fluctuations of non-Abelian gauge fields around a purely color-magnetic field contain exponentially growing unstable modes in a longitudinally soft momentum region, which is known as the Nielsen--Olesen instability. With a color-electric field imposed parallelly to the color-magnetic field, we can formulate this instability as the Schwinger mechanism. This is because soft unstable modes are accelerated…
We study non-perturbative gluon pair production from arbitrary time dependent chromo-electric field E^a(t) with arbitrary color index a =1,2,...8 via Schwinger mechanism in arbitrary covariant background gauge α. We show that the probability of non-perturbative gluon pair production per unit time per unit volume per unit transverse momentum \frac{dW}{d^4xd^2p_T} is independent of gauge fixing parameter α. Hence the result obtained in the Fynman-'t Hooft gauge, α=1, is the correct gauge invariant and gauge parameter αindependent result.
We systematically study the chiral symmetry breaking and restoration in the presence of a pure electric field in the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model at finite temperature and baryon chemical potential. In addition, we also study the effect of the chiral phase transition on the charged pair production due to the Schwinger mechanism. For these purposes, a general formalism for parallel electric and magnetic fields is developed at finite temperature and chemical potential for the first time. In the pure electric field limit $B\rightarrow0$, we compute the order parameter, the transverse-to-longit…
In this paper, we show how classical statistical field theory techniques can be used to efficiently perform the numerical evaluation of the non-perturbative Schwinger mechanism of particle production by quantum tunneling. In some approximation, we also consider the back-reaction of the produced particles on the external field, as well as the self-interactions of the produced particles.
The anomalous generation of chirality with mass effects via the axial Ward identity and its dependence on the Schwinger mechanism is reviewed, utilizing parity violating homogeneous electromagnetic background fields. The role vacuum asymptotic states play on the interpretation of expectation values is examined. It is discussed that observables calculated with an in-out scattering matrix element predict a scenario under Euclidean equilibrium. A notable ramification of which is a vanishing of the chiral anomaly. In contrast, it is discussed observables calculated under an in-in, or real-time, fo…
We study the Schwinger mechanism in QCD 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). We obtain an exact result for the non-perturbative quark (antiquark) production from an arbitrary $E^a(t)$ by directly evaluating the path integral. We find that the exact result is independent of all the time derivatives $\frac{d^nE^a(t)}{dt^n}$ where $n=1,2,...\infty$. This result has the same functional dependence on 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-…
We study massive charged particle production from the vacuum confined between two vibrating plates in the presence of a strong electric field. We analytically derive a formula for the production number based on the perturbation theory in the Furry picture, and show that the Schwinger mechanism by the strong electric field and the dynamical Casimir effect by the vibration assist with each other to dramatically enhance the production number by orders of the magnitude.
We prescribe a formulation of the particle production with real-time Stochastic Quantization. To construct the retarded and the time-ordered propagators we decompose the stochastic variables into positive- and negative-energy parts. In this way we demonstrate how to derive a standard formula for the Schwinger mechanism under time-dependent electric fields. We discuss a mapping to the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism and a relation to the classical statistical simulation.
We revisit the problem of dipole-dipole scattering via exchanges of soft Pomerons in the context of holographic QCD. We show that a single closed string exchange contribution to the eikonalized dipole-dipole scattering amplitude yields a Regge behavior of the elastic amplitude; the corresponding slope and intercept are different from previous results obtained by a variational analysis of semi-classical surfaces. We provide a physical interpretation of the semi-classical worldsheets driving the Regge behavior for (-t)>0 in terms of worldsheet instantons. The latter describe the Schwinger mechan…
Using the worldline formalism we compute an effective action for fermions under a temporally modulated electric field and a spatially modulated magnetic field. It is known that the former leads to an enhanced Schwinger Mechanism, while we find that the latter can also result in enhanced particle production and even cause a reorganization of the vacuum to acquire a larger dynamical mass in equilibrium which spatially assists the Magnetic Catalysis.
In this work we study the electrized quark matter under finite temperature and density conditions in the context of the SU(2) and SU(3) Nambu--Jona-Lasinio models. To this end, we evaluate the effective quark masses and the Schwinger quark-antiquark pair production rate. For the SU(3) NJL model we incorporate in the Lagrangian the 't Hooft determinant and we present a set of analytical expressions more convenient for numerical evaluations. We predict a decrease of the pseudocritical electric field with the increase of the temperature for both models and a more prominent production rate for the…
We study particle and chirality production from the vacuum in the presence of a slow strong parallel electromagnetic field superimposed by a fast weak perturbative electromagnetic field. We derive an analytical formula for the particle and chirality production number based on the perturbation theory in the Furry picture. With the formula, we analytically discuss the interplay and dynamical assistance between the Schwinger mechanism and one-photon pair production and clarify effects of a parallel slow strong magnetic field. We also show that the dynamical assistance can significantly enhance ch…
We elucidate chirality production under parity breaking constant electromagnetic fields, with which we clarify qualitative differences in and out of equilibrium. For a strong magnetic field the pair production from the Schwinger mechanism increments the chirality. The pair production rate is exponentially suppressed with mass according to the Schwinger formula, while the mass dependence of chirality production in the axial Ward identity appears in the pesudo-scalar term. We demonstrate that in equilibrium field theory calculus the axial anomaly is canceled by the pseudo-scalar condensate for a…
Experimental results of the transverse momentum distributions of phi mesons and $Ω$ hyperons produced in gold-gold (Au-Au) collisions with different centrality intervals, measured by the STAR Collaboration at different energies (7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27, and 39 GeV) in the beam energy scan (BES) program at the relativistic heavy ion collider (RHIC), are approximately described by the single Erlang distribution and the two-component Schwinger mechanism. Meanwhile, the STAR experimental transverse momentum distributions of negatively charged particles, produced in Au-Au collisions at RHIC BES energie…
We study the transverse momentum spectra of J/psi and Upsilon mesons by using two methods: the two-component Erlang distribution and the two-component Schwinger mechanism. The results obtained by the two methods are compared and found to be in agreement with the experimental data of proton-proton (pp), proton-lead (p-Pb), and lead-lead (Pb-Pb) collisions measured by the LHCb and ALICE Collaborations at the large hadron collider (LHC). The related parameters such as the mean transverse momentum contributed by each parton in the first (second) component in the two-component Erlang distribution a…
In this paper, we study Schwinger pair production of charged massless particles in constant electric fields of finite-extent. Exploiting a map from the Dirac and Klein-Gordon equation to the harmonic oscillator, we find exact pair production rates for massless fermions and scalars. Pair production rates depend only on the ratio between the capacitor plate separation, $\ell$, and the length-scale of the force-field, $\ell_F$. Chirality ensures that fermion production smoothly vanishes with $\ell/\ell_F$. Scalar pair production though diverges exponentially quickly in this limit. The same limit …
In QCD, the Schwinger mechanism endows the gluons with an effective mass through the dynamical formation of massless bound-state poles that are longitudinally coupled. The presence of these poles affects profoundly the infrared properties of the interaction vertices, inducing crucial modifications to their fundamental Ward identities. Within this general framework, we present a detailed derivation of the non-Abelian Ward identity obeyed by the pole-free part of the three-gluon vertex in the soft-gluon limit, and determine the smoking-gun displacement that the onset of the Schwinger mechanism p…
Dykhne-Davis-Pechukas (DDP) method is a common approximation scheme for the transition probability in two-level quantum systems, as realized in the Landau-Zener effect, leading to an exponentially damping form comparable to the Schwinger pair production rate. We analyze the foundation of the DDP method using a modern complex technique inspired by the Lefschetz-thimble method. We derive an alternative and more adaptive formula that is useful even when the DDP method is inapplicable. As a benchmark, we study the modified Landau-Zener model and compare results from the DDP and our methods. We the…
The generation of a momentum-dependent gluon mass proceeds through a sophisticated implementation, at the level of the Schwinger-Dyson equation for the gluon propagator, of the Schwinger mechanism, whose central dynamical ingredient is the nonperturbative formation of longitudinally coupled massless bound-state excitations. In addition to triggering the aforementioned mechanism, these excitations introduce poles in the various off-shell Green's functions of the theory, in such a way as to maintain the Slavnov-Taylor identities intact in the presence of massive gluon propagators, acting effecti…
We study electron and positron pair production from the vacuum by a strong slow electric field superimposed by a weak fast electric field pointing in an arbitrary direction as a perturbation (the dynamically assisted Schwinger mechanism). An analytical formula for the production number is derived on the basis of the perturbation theory in the Furry picture. The formula is found to be in good agreement with non-perturbative results obtained by numerically solving the Dirac equation if the perturbation is sufficiently weak and/or is not very slow. We also find analytically/numerically that the S…
We discuss the Schwinger mechanism in scalar QED and derive the multiplicity distribution of particles created under an external electric field using the LSZ reduction formula. Assuming that the electric field is spatially homogeneous, we find that the particles of different momenta are produced independently, and that the multiplicity distribution in one mode follows a Bose-Einstein distribution. We confirm the consistency of our results with an intuitive derivation by means of the Bogoliubov transformation on creation and annihilation operators. Finally we revisit a known solvable example of…
In this work we study the production of electron-positron pairs from vacuum in presence of a field resulting from the collision of two counter-propagating FEL beams that undergo Gaussian amplitude fluctuations. Our work aims to the extension of previous works based on the standing wave hypothesis, by including the inherent stochastic amplitude fluctuations of the individual FEL beams. As shown, depending on the order of the process, a large non-linear enhancement in the number of created pairs can be expected over a big intensity window in the multi-photon regime. Vacuum pair creation in view …
The gauge invariant generation of an effective gluon mass proceeds through the well-known Schwinger mechanism, whose key dynamical ingredient is the nonperturbative formation of longitudinally coupled massless bound-state excitations. These excitations introduce poles in the vertices of the theory, in such a way as to maintain the Slavnov-Taylor identities intact in the presence of massive gluon propagators. In the present work we first focus on the modifications induced to the nonperturbative three-gluon vertex by the inclusion of massless two-gluon bound-states into the kernels appearing in …
We develop a formalism to describe the particle production out of equilibrium in terms of dynamical spectral functions, i.e. Wigner transformed Pauli-Jordan's and Hadamard's functions. We take an explicit example of a spatially homogeneous scalar theory under pulsed electric fields and investigate the time evolution of the spectral functions. In the out-state we find an oscillatory peak in Hadamard's function as a result of the mixing between positive- and negative-energy waves. The strength of this peak is of the linear order of the Bogoliubov mixing coefficient, whereas the peak correspondin…
Schwinger's formalism in quantum field theory can be easily implemented in the case of scalar theories in $D$ dimension with exponential interactions, such as $μ^D\exp(αϕ)$. In particular, we use the relation $$ \exp\big(α{δ\over δJ(x)}\big)\exp(-Z_0[J])=\exp(-Z_0[J+α_x]) $$ with $J$ the external source, and $α_x(y)=αδ(y-x)$. Such a shift is strictly related to the normal ordering of $\exp(αϕ)$ and to a scaling relation which follows by renormalizing $μ$. Next, we derive a new formulation of perturbation theory for the potentials $V(ϕ)={λ\over n!}:ϕ^n:$, using the generating functional associa…
The spontaneous production of electron-positron pairs from the vacuum--in a field configuration composed of a high-frequency electric mode of weak intensity and a strong constant electric field--is investigated. Asymptotic expressions for the single-particle distribution function ruling this nonperturbative process are established by considering the low-density approximation in the Boltzmann-Vlasov equation. An analytical formula for the density rate of yielded particles is established which is shown to manifest a nonperturbative dependence on both the strong and weak electric fields and to in…
We study the Schwinger mechanism in the presence of an additional uniformly oriented, weak super Gaussian of integer order $4N+2$. 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 Sauter type. For higher orders, specifically, for the rectangular barrier limit, i.e. $N \rightarrow \infty$, we approach the Lorentzian case as an upper bound. Altho…
Recently the dynamically assisted Schwinger mechanism, i.e., electron-positron pair production from vacuum by a combination of laser pulses with different time scales has been proposed. The corresponding results, which suggest that the rate of produced pairs is significantly enhanced by dynamical effects, are verified. Employing the framework of quantum kinetic theory intrinsically enables us to additionally provide momentum space information on the generated positron spectrum.
Universidad de Granada（格拉纳达大学）；Universidad de Coimbra（科英布拉大学）；Jožef Stefan Institute（约瑟夫·斯蒂芬研究所）；Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe (IFPU)（宇宙基础物理研究所）
Initial states of glasma in high energy heavy ion collisions are longitudinal classical color electric and magnetic fields. Assuming finite color electric conductivity, we show that the color electric field decays by quark pair production with the life time of the order of $Q_s^{-1}$, i.e. the inverse of the saturation momentum. Quarks and anti-quarks created in the pair production are immediately thermalized as far as their temperature $β^{-1}$ is lower than $Q_s$. Namely, a relaxation time of the quarks to be thermalized is much shorter than $Q_s^{-1}$ when $β^{-1} \ll Q_s$. We also show tha…
In this work we explore the applicability of a special gluon mass generating mechanism in the context of the linear covariant gauges. In particular, the implementation of the Schwinger mechanism in pure Yang-Mills theories hinges crucially on the inclusion of massless bound-state excitations in the fundamental nonperturbative vertices of the theory. The dynamical formation of such excitations is controlled by a homogeneous linear Bethe-Salpeter equation, whose nontrivial solutions have been studied only in the Landau gauge. Here, the form of this integral equation is derived for general values…
I calculate the 1-loop self-energy of the lowest Landau level an electron of mass m in a strong, constant and uniform external magnetic field B, beyond its always used truncation at (ln L)^2, L=|e|B/m^2. This is achieved by evaluating the integral deduced in 1953 by Demeur and incompletely calculated in 1969 by Jancovici, which I recover from Schwinger's techniques of calculation. It yields δm \simeq (α*m/(4*π))*[(\ln L -γ_E -3/2)^2 -9/4 +π/(β-1) + π^2/6 +π*Γ[1-β]/L^{β-1} +(1/L)*(π/(2-β)-5) +{\cal O}(1/L^{>= 2})] with β\approx 1.175 for 75 =< L =< 10000. . The (\ln L)^2 truncation exceeds the …
