Particle creation, classicality and related issues in quantum field theory: II. Examples from field theory

Abstract

We adopt the general formalism, which was developed in Paper I to analyze the evolution of a quantized time-dependent oscillator, to address several questions in the context of quantum field theory in time dependent external backgrounds. In particular, we study the question of emergence of classicality in terms of the phase space evolution and its relation to particle production, and clarify some conceptual issues. We consider a quantized scalar field evolving in a constant electric field and in FRW spacetimes which illustrate the two extreme cases of late time adiabatic and highly non-adiabatic evolution. Using the time-dependent generalizations of various quantities like particle number density, effective Lagrangian etc. introduced in Paper I, we contrast the evolution in these two limits bringing out key differences between the Schwinger effect and evolution in the de Sitter background. Further, our examples suggest that the notion of classicality is multifaceted and any one single criterion may not have universal applicability. For example, the peaking of the phase space Wigner distribution on the classical trajectory alone does not imply transition to classical behavior. An analysis of the behavior of the classicality parameter, which was introduced in Paper I, leads to the conclusion that strong particle production is necessary for the quantum state to become highly correlated in phase space at late times.