Evolution modes of the vacuum Wigner function in strong-field QED

I. Białynicki-Birula; E. D. Davis; J. Rafelski

doi:10.1016/0370-2693(93)90578-6

Evolution modes of the vacuum Wigner function in strong-field QED

I. Białynicki-Birula
, E. D. Davis
, J. Rafelski

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

The physical content of a non-covariant quantum-field theoretic transport formalism for strong-field QED is addressed within an integral formulation of the evolution equations which highlights the relation to acoustic and Zitterbewegung modes of the field-free limit. Through the computation within this framework of the electric susceptibility of the vacuum at the one-loop level, it is established that the off-shell behaviour of the electron-positron field is correctly incorporated. The Zitterbewegung mode is seen to be solely responsible at the one-loop level for vacuum polarization. Implications for the full renormalisation of the theory are taken up.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	329-338
Number of pages	10
Journal	Physics Letters B
Volume	311
Issue number	1-4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/0370-2693(93)90578-6
State	Published - Jul 29 1993

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Nuclear and High Energy Physics

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10.1016/0370-2693(93)90578-6

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title = "Evolution modes of the vacuum Wigner function in strong-field QED",

abstract = "The physical content of a non-covariant quantum-field theoretic transport formalism for strong-field QED is addressed within an integral formulation of the evolution equations which highlights the relation to acoustic and Zitterbewegung modes of the field-free limit. Through the computation within this framework of the electric susceptibility of the vacuum at the one-loop level, it is established that the off-shell behaviour of the electron-positron field is correctly incorporated. The Zitterbewegung mode is seen to be solely responsible at the one-loop level for vacuum polarization. Implications for the full renormalisation of the theory are taken up.",

author = "I. Bia{\l}ynicki-Birula and Davis, \{E. D.\} and J. Rafelski",

note = "Funding Information: This work has been supported in part by the US Department of Energy under grant DE-FG02-92ER40733. E.D.D. would like to acknowledge support by the Stellenbosch 2000 Fund, the Alexander yon Humboldt Stiftung and, in the early stages of this work, the National Science Foundation under grant PHY-9103011.",

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AU - Białynicki-Birula, I.

AU - Davis, E. D.

AU - Rafelski, J.

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N2 - The physical content of a non-covariant quantum-field theoretic transport formalism for strong-field QED is addressed within an integral formulation of the evolution equations which highlights the relation to acoustic and Zitterbewegung modes of the field-free limit. Through the computation within this framework of the electric susceptibility of the vacuum at the one-loop level, it is established that the off-shell behaviour of the electron-positron field is correctly incorporated. The Zitterbewegung mode is seen to be solely responsible at the one-loop level for vacuum polarization. Implications for the full renormalisation of the theory are taken up.

AB - The physical content of a non-covariant quantum-field theoretic transport formalism for strong-field QED is addressed within an integral formulation of the evolution equations which highlights the relation to acoustic and Zitterbewegung modes of the field-free limit. Through the computation within this framework of the electric susceptibility of the vacuum at the one-loop level, it is established that the off-shell behaviour of the electron-positron field is correctly incorporated. The Zitterbewegung mode is seen to be solely responsible at the one-loop level for vacuum polarization. Implications for the full renormalisation of the theory are taken up.

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Evolution modes of the vacuum Wigner function in strong-field QED

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