The charged vacuum in over-critical fields

J. Rafelski; B. Müller; W. Greiner

doi:10.1016/0550-3213(74)90333-2

The charged vacuum in over-critical fields

J. Rafelski, B. Müller, W. Greiner

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

69 Scopus citations

Abstract

The concept of over-critical fields, i.e. fields in which spontaneous, energy-less electron-position pair creation may occur, is discussed. It is shown that only a charged vacuum can be a stable ground state of the overcritical field. The time-dependent treatment confirms previous results for the cross sections for the auto-ionizing positrons. The questions in connection with the classical Dirac wave functions in over-critical fields are extensively discussed in the frame of the self-consistent formulation of QED including the effects of vacuum polarization and self-energy.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	585-604
Number of pages	20
Journal	Nuclear Physics, Section B
Volume	68
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/0550-3213(74)90333-2
State	Published - Jan 21 1974
Externally published	Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Nuclear and High Energy Physics

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10.1016/0550-3213(74)90333-2

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title = "The charged vacuum in over-critical fields",

abstract = "The concept of over-critical fields, i.e. fields in which spontaneous, energy-less electron-position pair creation may occur, is discussed. It is shown that only a charged vacuum can be a stable ground state of the overcritical field. The time-dependent treatment confirms previous results for the cross sections for the auto-ionizing positrons. The questions in connection with the classical Dirac wave functions in over-critical fields are extensively discussed in the frame of the self-consistent formulation of QED including the effects of vacuum polarization and self-energy.",

author = "J. Rafelski and B. M{\"u}ller and W. Greiner",

note = "Funding Information: As Zcr is known to be approximately 172 (see refs. \[1, 6, 7\]) the experimental situation discussed here can be only reached in collisions of very heavy ions, say uranium * This work has been supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, by the Bundesministe-rium ftir Forschung und Technologie and by the Gesellschaft f/ir Schwerionenforsehung (GSI).",

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AU - Müller, B.

AU - Greiner, W.

N1 - Funding Information: As Zcr is known to be approximately 172 (see refs. \[1, 6, 7\]) the experimental situation discussed here can be only reached in collisions of very heavy ions, say uranium * This work has been supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, by the Bundesministe-rium ftir Forschung und Technologie and by the Gesellschaft f/ir Schwerionenforsehung (GSI).

PY - 1974/1/21

Y1 - 1974/1/21

N2 - The concept of over-critical fields, i.e. fields in which spontaneous, energy-less electron-position pair creation may occur, is discussed. It is shown that only a charged vacuum can be a stable ground state of the overcritical field. The time-dependent treatment confirms previous results for the cross sections for the auto-ionizing positrons. The questions in connection with the classical Dirac wave functions in over-critical fields are extensively discussed in the frame of the self-consistent formulation of QED including the effects of vacuum polarization and self-energy.

AB - The concept of over-critical fields, i.e. fields in which spontaneous, energy-less electron-position pair creation may occur, is discussed. It is shown that only a charged vacuum can be a stable ground state of the overcritical field. The time-dependent treatment confirms previous results for the cross sections for the auto-ionizing positrons. The questions in connection with the classical Dirac wave functions in over-critical fields are extensively discussed in the frame of the self-consistent formulation of QED including the effects of vacuum polarization and self-energy.

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The charged vacuum in over-critical fields

Abstract

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