Vacuum pair-production in a classical electric field and an electromagnetic wave
arXiv:1207.0401 · doi:10.1016/j.aop.2013.02.012
Abstract
Using semiclassical WKB-methods, we calculate the rate of electron-positron pair-production from the vacuum in the presence of two external fields, a strong (space- or time-dependent) classical field and a monochromatic electromagnetic wave. We discuss the possible medium effects on the rate in the presence of thermal electrons, bosons, and neutral plasma of electrons and protons at a given temperature and chemical potential. Using our rate formula, we calculate the rate enhancement due to a laser beam, and discuss the possibility that a significant enhancement may appear in a plasma of electrons and protons with self-focusing properties.
31 pages, 4 figures. The revised version to appear in the journal Annals of Physics. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:0807.0909, arXiv:0910.0974
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Cited by in corpus (12)
- Schwinger mechanism revisited
- Dynamically assisted Sauter-Schwinger effect in inhomogeneous electric fields
- Fermionic current and Schwinger effect in de Sitter spacetime
- Scalar current of created pairs by Schwinger mechanism in de Sitter spacetime
- Comparison of semiclassical and Wigner function methods in pair production in rotating fields
- Semiclassical pair production rate for rotating electric fields
- On the effect of time-dependent inhomogeneous magnetic fields in electron-positron pair production
- Semiclassical pair production rate for time-dependent electrical fields with more than one component: -WKB-approach and world-line instantons
- Polarizability of electrically induced magnetic vortex plasma
- Nonlinear Breit-Wheeler process in the collision of a photon with two plane waves
- Fractional Effective Action at strong electromagnetic fields
- Electromagnetic and gravitational radiation from the coherent oscillation of electron-positron pairs and fields