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Kinetic Approach to Pair Production in Strong Fields—Two Lessons for Applications to Heavy-Ion Collisions
- Source :
- Particles, Vol 2, Iss 2, Pp 166-179 (2019)
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- MDPI AG, 2019.
-
Abstract
- The kinetic-equation approach to particle production in strong, time-dependent external fields is revisited and three limiting cases are discussed for different field patterns: the Sauter pulse, a harmonic pulse with a Gaussian envelope, and a Poisson-distributed stochastic field. It is shown that for transient subcritical electric fields E ( t ) a finite residual particle number density n ( ∞ ) would be absent if the field-dependence of the dynamical phase in the Schwinger source term would be neglected. In this case the distribution function of created particles follows the law f ( t ) ∼ E 2 ( t ) . Two lessons for particle production in heavy-ion collisions are derived from this exercise. First: the shorter the (Sauter-type) pulse, the higher the residual density of produced particles. Second: although the Schwinger process in a string-type field produces a non-thermal particle spectrum, a Poissonian distribution of the (fluctuating) strings produces a thermal spectrum with an apparent temperature that coincides with the Hawking–Unruh temperature for the mean value of the string tension.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 2571712X
- Volume :
- 2
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Directory of Open Access Journals
- Journal :
- Particles
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsdoj.991d1a659e9b4651907774c599c14243
- Document Type :
- article
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3390/particles2020012