Electron-Positron Vacuum Instability in Strong Electric Fields. Relativistic Semiclassical Approach

The instability of electron-positron vacuum in strong electric fields is studied. First, falling to the Coulomb center is discussed at Z>137/2 for a spinless boson and at Z>137 for electron. Subsequently, focus is concentrated on description of deep electron levels and spontaneous positron production in the field of a finite-size nucleus with the charge Z>Zcr≃170. Next, these effects are studied in application to the low-energy heavy-ion collisions. Subsequently, we consider phenomenon of “electron condensation” on levels of upper continuum crossed the boundary of the lower continuum ϵ=−m in the field of a supercharged nucleus with Z≫Zcr. Finally, attention is focused on many-particle problems of polarization of the quantum electrodynamics (QED) vacuum and electron condensation at ultra-short distances from a source of charge. We argue for a principal difference of cases, when the size of the source is larger than the pole size rpole, at which the dielectric permittivity of the vacuum reaches zero and smaller rpole. Some arguments are presented in favor of the logical consistency of QED. All of the problems are considered within the same relativistic semiclassical approach.

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LOCAL VACUUM EXCITATIONS IN STRONG ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS?

International Journal of Modern Physics A ◽

10.1142/s0217751x88000758 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 03 (07) ◽

pp. 1751-1757 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

ANDREAS SCHÄFER ◽

BERNDT MÜLLER ◽

WALTER GREINER

Keyword(s):

Electromagnetic Fields ◽

Electric Fields ◽

Gluon Condensate ◽

Vacuum State ◽

Heavy Ion ◽

Energy Scale ◽

Ion Collisions ◽

Electron Positron ◽

The Standard Model ◽

Text Component

We discuss the possibility that strong electromagnetic fields might induce local changes in the vacuum state of the standard model and argue that such states could have all the necessary properties to explain the coincident electron-positron lines observed at GSI. Two specific ideas are investigated. The first relies on the assumption that the Higgs-vacuum state is nearly destabilized by radiative corrections, so that the electric fields produced in heavy ion collisions are strong enough to induce a local phase transition. The second one relies on vacuum changes in the QCD sector. We propose a scenario in which the gluon condensate acquires a [Formula: see text] component and argue that this could change the energy scale of QCD, i.e. ΛQCD.

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Production of Electron-Positron Pairs in Atomic heavy Ion Collisions at Relativistic Energies

NATO ASI Series - Hot and Dense Nuclear Matter ◽

10.1007/978-1-4615-2516-5_53 ◽

1994 ◽

pp. 595-606

Author(s):

Joachim Thiel ◽

Norbert Grün ◽

Werner Scheid

Keyword(s):

Heavy Ion Collisions ◽

Heavy Ion ◽

Ion Collisions ◽

Electron Positron

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Semiclassical approach to sequential fission in peripheral heavy-ion collisions

EPJ Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/epjconf/201611708024 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 117 ◽

pp. 08024

Author(s):

Andrea Strazzeri ◽

Antonio Italiano

Keyword(s):

Heavy Ion Collisions ◽

Heavy Ion ◽

Semiclassical Approach ◽

Ion Collisions

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Kinetic Approach to Pair Production in Strong Fields—Two Lessons for Applications to Heavy-Ion Collisions

Particles ◽

10.3390/particles2020012 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 166-179 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

David Blaschke ◽

Lukasz Juchnowski ◽

Andreas Otto

Keyword(s):

Electric Fields ◽

Heavy Ion Collisions ◽

Particle Production ◽

Heavy Ion ◽

String Tension ◽

Particle Number Density ◽

Apparent Temperature ◽

Particle Spectrum ◽

Stochastic Field ◽

Ion Collisions

The kinetic-equation approach to particle production in strong, time-dependent external fields is revisited and three limiting cases are discussed for different field patterns: the Sauter pulse, a harmonic pulse with a Gaussian envelope, and a Poisson-distributed stochastic field. It is shown that for transient subcritical electric fields E ( t ) a finite residual particle number density n ( ∞ ) would be absent if the field-dependence of the dynamical phase in the Schwinger source term would be neglected. In this case the distribution function of created particles follows the law f ( t ) ∼ E 2 ( t ) . Two lessons for particle production in heavy-ion collisions are derived from this exercise. First: the shorter the (Sauter-type) pulse, the higher the residual density of produced particles. Second: although the Schwinger process in a string-type field produces a non-thermal particle spectrum, a Poissonian distribution of the (fluctuating) strings produces a thermal spectrum with an apparent temperature that coincides with the Hawking–Unruh temperature for the mean value of the string tension.

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Finite-size behaviour of a critical related observable

Open Physics ◽

10.2478/s11534-012-0143-7 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 10 (6) ◽

Author(s):

Wu Yuanfang ◽

Chen Lizhu ◽

Pan Xue ◽

Shao Ming ◽

Xiaosong Chen

Keyword(s):

Fixed Point ◽

Heavy Ion Collisions ◽

Finite Size ◽

System Size ◽

Heavy Ion ◽

Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions ◽

Charge Fluctuations ◽

Qcd Critical Point ◽

Ion Collisions ◽

Straight Line

AbstractAccounting for the influence of system size in relativistic heavy ion collisions, the finite-size form of a critical related observable is suggested. The fixed-point and straight line methods are proposed in exploring the QCD critical point and phase boundary in relativistic heavy ion collisions. As an application, the finitesize behaviour of the ratios of higher net-proton cumulants, dynamical electric charge fluctuations, and transverse momentum correlations in Au + Au collisions at RHIC are examined.

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