On the Higher Loop Euler-Heisenberg Trans-Series Structure

Abstract

We show that the one-loop Euler-Heisenberg QED effective Lagrangian in a constant background field acquires a very different non-perturbative trans-series structure at two-loop and higher-loop order in the fine structure constant. Beyond one-loop, virtual particles interact, causing fluctuations about the instantons, whereby the simple poles of the one-loop Borel transform become branch points. We illustrate this in detail at two-loop order using Ritus's seminal result for the renormalized two-loop effective Lagrangian as an exact double-integral representation, and propose a possible new approach to computations at higher loop order. Our methods yield remarkably accurate extrapolations from weak-field to strong-field, and from magnetic to electric background field, at both one-loop and two-loop order, based on surprisingly little perturbative input.

22 pages, 19 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Note on the conjectured breakdown of QED perturbation theory in strong fields
• On Seminal HEDP Research Opportunities Enabled by Colocating Multi-Petawatt Laser with High-Density Electron Beams
• Three-loop Euler-Heisenberg Lagrangian in 1+1 QED, part 1: single fermion-loop part
• Error bounds and exponential improvement for the asymptotic expansion of the Barnes $G$-function
• Perturbative Expansions in QCD Improved by Conformal Mappings of the Borel Plane
• "Background Field Integration-by-Parts" and the Connection Between One-Loop and Two-Loop Heisenberg-Euler Effective Actions