Pair creation in electric fields, anomalies, and renormalization of the electric current

Abstract

We investigate the Schwinger pair production phenomena in spatially homogeneous strong electric fields. We first consider scalar QED in four-dimensions and discuss the potential ambiguity in the adiabatic order assignment for the electromagnetic potential required to fix the renormalization subtractions. We argue that this ambiguity can be solved by invoking the conformal anomaly when both electric and gravitational backgrounds are present. We also extend the adiabatic regularization method for spinor QED in two-dimensions and find consistency with the chiral anomaly. We focus on the issue of the renormalization of the electric current $⟨j^{\mu }⟩$ generated by the created pairs. We illustrate how to implement the renormalization of the electric current for the Sauter pulse.

15 pages, 4 figures. Some points clarified. Misprints corrected. To appear in Phys. Rev. D

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