Critical Schwinger pair production. II. Universality in the deeply critical regime

Abstract

We study electron-positron pair production by spatially inhomogeneous electric fields. Depending on the localization of the field, a critical point (critical surface) exists in the space of field configurations where the pair production probability vanishes. Near criticality, pair production exhibits universal properties similar to those of continuous phase transitions. We extend results previously obtained in the semiclassical (weak-field) critical regime to the deeply critical regime for arbitrary peak field strength. In this regime, we find an enhanced universality, featuring a unique critical exponent $\ensuremath{\beta}=3$ for all sufficiently localized fields. For a large class of field profiles, we also compute the nonuniversal amplitudes.