| Issue |
EPL
Volume 86, Number 1, April 2009
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 13001 | |
| Number of page(s) | 5 | |
| Section | Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/86/13001 | |
| Published online | 17 April 2009 | |
Breakdown of the vacuum by arbitrary external fields
Intense Laser Physics Theory Unit and Department of Physics, Illinois State University Normal, IL 61790-4560 USA
Received:
31
October
2008
Accepted:
13
March
2009
We examine the spontaneous breakdown of the matter vacuum triggered by an external force. Based on the multi-particle counting numbers, which are accessible by experiment, we present a general theoretical procedure that permits the computation of the vacuum probability for sub- and super-critical fields with arbitrary spatial and temporal profiles. When the field is supercritical, the theory leads to the expected exponentially decay of the vacuum in the long-time limit. For the special case of an infinitely extended electric force field, we establish the validity of an effective decay constant obtained by averaging the Schwinger rate over the spatial force profile.
PACS: 31.30.J- – Relativistic and quantum electrodynamic (QED) effects in atoms, molecules, and ions
© EPLA, 2009
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