QUANTUM MECHANICAL APPROACH TO THE LASER-ASSISTED VACUUM DECAY

Publication Date

4-5-2019

Document Type

Poster

Degree Type

Undergraduate

Department

Physics

Mentor

Rainer Grobe

Mentor Department

Physics

Abstract

The quantum field theoretical problem of the vacuum decay into electron-positron pairs induced by external force fields is mapped onto the framework of a quantum mechanical scattering process. This mapping permits us to generalize the Hund conjecture, which relates the long-time pair creation rate for a static and spatially localized electric field to the transmission coefficient, to general space-time dependent forces that can induce multi-photon transitions. This leads to conceptual as well as computational simplifications as the vacuum's decay rate can be obtained from the laser-assisted scattering of quantum mechanical wave packets. Using this mapping we find an analytical expression for the pair creation rate for the case where the laser's polarization direction is perpendicular to the supercritical static force field. [1-2] This work has been supported by the NSF, NSFC and Research Corporation. [1] C. Lisowski, S. Norris, R. Pelphrey, E. Stefanovich, Q. Su, R. Grobe, Ann. Phys. 373, 456 (2016). [2] Q.Z. Lv, S. Dong, C. Lisowski, R. Pelphrey, Y.T. Li, Q. Su and R. Grobe, Phys. Rev. A 97, 053416 (2018).

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