Abstract
Electron-positron pair production in spatially and temporally inhomogeneous electric and magnetic fields is studied within the Dirac-Heisenberg-Wigner formalism (quantum kinetic theory) through computing the corresponding Wigner functions. The focus is on discussing the particle momentum spectrum regarding signatures of Schwinger and multiphoton pair production. Special emphasis is put on studying the impact of a strong dynamical magnetic field on the particle distribution functions. As the equal-time Wigner approach is formulated in terms of partial integro-differential equations an entire section of the manuscript is dedicated to present numerical solution techniques applicable to Wigner function approaches in general.
Highlights
The creation of matter out of the vacuum is one of the most exciting concepts of high-energy physics
One big goal of this manuscript is to provide some insight into particle creation and, particle dynamics in high-intensity electromagnetic background fields
The possibility to perform calculations for almost arbitrarily focused backgrounds is a clear sign that quantum kinetic approaches are a valuable asset toward understanding quantum field theories in general
Summary
The creation of matter out of the vacuum is one of the most exciting concepts of high-energy physics. In particular strong-field quantum electrodynamics (QED) is perfectly suited to study the generation of matter through energy, because it provides a comparatively clean setting [1,2,3]. The main issue is to create the right laboratory conditions as it takes extremely strong field strengths in order to see any form of signal of quantum vacuum nonlinearities [4,5,6,7]. The research field has recently gained interest to the extent that upcoming laser facilities already prepare for high-intensity experiments [11,12,13]. Recently it was suggested that both mechanism could be utilized together in a multibeam scenario
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