Electron scattering at a potential temporal step discontinuity

Abstract

We solve the problem of electron scattering at a potential temporal step discontinuity. For this purpose, instead of the Schrödinger equation, we use the Dirac equation, for access to back-scattering and relativistic solutions. We show that back-scattering, which is associated with gauge symmetry breaking, requires a vector potential, whereas a scalar potential induces only Aharonov–Bohm type energy transitions. We derive the scattering probabilities, which are found to be of later-forward and later-backward nature, with the later-backward wave being a relativistic effect, and compare the results with those for the spatial step and classical electromagnetic counterparts of the problem. Given the unrealizability of an infinitely sharp temporal discontinuity—which is of the same nature as its spatial counterpart!—we also provide solutions for a smooth potential step and demonstrate that the same physics as for the infinitely sharp case is obtained when the duration of the potential transition is sufficiently smaller than the de Broglie period of the electron (or deeply sub-period).