Work

Comparison of semiclassical and Wigner function methods in pair production in rotating fields

Year: 2016

Type: article

Abstract: We present a comparison of two methods to compute the momentum spectrum and the Schwinger pair creation rate for pulsed rotating electric fields: a numerical method based upon the real-time Dirac-Heisenberg-Wigner formalism and a semiclassical approximation based on a scattering ansatz. For the semiclassical method we propose to either perform numerical calculations or an additional approximation based on an analytical solution for the constant rotating field. We find that the two numerical methods are complementary with respect to computation time as well as accuracy. The approximate method shows the same qualitative features while being computationally much faster. We additionally find that the unequal production of pairs in different spin states reported for constant rotating fields with the scattering method is in agreement with the Wigner function method.

Source: Physical review. D/Physical review. D.

DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.93.025014

Authors: Alexander Blinne, Eckhard Strobel

Institutions: Helmholtz Institute Jena, Friedrich Schiller University Jena

Language: English

Topic: Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency

Awards: G1586441012, G2724878269, G800276495