The Schwinger mechanism revisited

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dc.creatorCohen, Thomas D.
dc.creatorMcGady, David A.
dc.date2008-07-07
dc.date2008-08-30
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T11:52:21Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T11:52:21Z
dc.descriptionThe 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.
dc.description6 pages, 1 figure; References added, minor typos fixed
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/0807.1117
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/0807.1117
dc.identifierPhys.Rev.D78:036008,2008
dc.identifierdoi:10.1103/PhysRevD.78.036008
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/204204
dc.subjectHigh Energy Physics - Phenomenology
dc.subjectHigh Energy Physics - Theory
dc.subjectNuclear Theory
dc.titleThe Schwinger mechanism revisited
dc.typetext

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