The breakdown of one-dimensional fermionic and bosonic vaccua in strong fields

ORAL

Abstract

We compare the creation rates for particle-antiparticle pairs produced by a supercritical force field for fermionic and bosonic model systems. The rates obtained from the Dirac and Klein-Gordon equations can be computed directly from the quantum mechanical transmission coefficients describing the scattering of an incoming particle with the supercritical potential barrier. We provide a unified framework that shows that the bosonic rates can exceed the fermionic ones, as one could expect from the Pauli exclusion principle for the fermion system. This imbalance for small but supercritical forces is associated with the occurrence of negative bosonic transmission coefficients of arbitrary size for the Klein-Gordon system, while the Dirac coefficient is positive and bound by unity. We confirm the transmission coefficients with time-dependent scattering simulations. For large forces, however, the fermionic and bosonic pair creation rates are surprisingly close to each other. The predicted pair-creation rates also match the slopes of the time-dependent particle probabilities obtained from large-scale ab initio numerical simulations based on quantum field theory.

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Authors

  • Michael Turner

    Illinois Institute of Technology, Bettendorf High School, Bettendorf, IA, Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency, Bettendorf, IA, Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA, Ames Laboratory and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA, Max-Planck-Institut fuer Mikrostrukturphysik, Halle, Germany, CNRS, Universite Lyon I, France, Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany, University of Jyvaskila, Finaland, Iowa State University/Ames Laboratory, Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory and Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University, Indiana University, Illinois State University, University of Iowa, Louisiana State University, University of Warwick, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Coe College, University of Northern Iowa, Iowa State University and Ames Laboratory, University of Illinois, Ames Laboratory, University of Florida, Tulane University, The Department of Physics and The James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, J.R. Macdonald Laboratory, Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, Department of Physics, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD 57197, Intense Laser Physics Theory Unit, Illinois State University, Argonne National Laboratory, Dr, Drake University, Physics Department, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, Physics Department, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Ames Laboratory and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA, Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA, NEST-CNR-INFM and Scuola Normale Superiore, I-56126 Pisa, Italy, University of New Hampshire Department of Physics, University of Chicago

  • Michael Turner

    Illinois Institute of Technology, Bettendorf High School, Bettendorf, IA, Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency, Bettendorf, IA, Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA, Ames Laboratory and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA, Max-Planck-Institut fuer Mikrostrukturphysik, Halle, Germany, CNRS, Universite Lyon I, France, Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany, University of Jyvaskila, Finaland, Iowa State University/Ames Laboratory, Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory and Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University, Indiana University, Illinois State University, University of Iowa, Louisiana State University, University of Warwick, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Coe College, University of Northern Iowa, Iowa State University and Ames Laboratory, University of Illinois, Ames Laboratory, University of Florida, Tulane University, The Department of Physics and The James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, J.R. Macdonald Laboratory, Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, Department of Physics, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD 57197, Intense Laser Physics Theory Unit, Illinois State University, Argonne National Laboratory, Dr, Drake University, Physics Department, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, Physics Department, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Ames Laboratory and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA, Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA, NEST-CNR-INFM and Scuola Normale Superiore, I-56126 Pisa, Italy, University of New Hampshire Department of Physics, University of Chicago

  • Q. Su

    Intense Laser Physics Theory Unit, Illinois State University

  • R. Grobe

    Intense Laser Physics Theory Unit, Illinois State University