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arXiv · 2602.00873

Vacuum polarization and pair production in time-dependent electric fields: A quantum-kinetic-equation approach

I. A. Aleksandrov·V. A. Bokhan·A. I. Baksheev·A. Kudlis
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Abstract

The evolution of the vacuum state in a time-dependent external electric field of arbitrary polarization is investigated within a nonperturbative framework of quantum kinetic equations (QKEs). In our previous work [Phys. Rev. Res. 6, 043009 (2024)], a revised version of the QKEs was derived by using an adiabatic basis constructed from one-particle Hamiltonian eigenfunctions in a spatially homogeneous electric field. In this study, we present an extensive analysis of these equations with particular emphasis on observable quantities. Specifically, we compute momentum-resolved particle yields, the induced electron-positron current, the energy-momentum tensor, and the angular-momentum tensor. We also discuss in detail the charge-renormalization procedure required to remove logarithmic divergences. It is shown that our results are consistent with the previous findings obtained via the Dirac-Heisenberg-Wigner formalism. Our analysis provides a firmer theoretical basis for investigations of nonperturbative effects in strong electric fields.

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I. A. Aleksandrov, V. A. Bokhan, A. I. Baksheev, A. Kudlis. 2026-01-31. Vacuum polarization and pair production in time-dependent electric fields: A quantum-kinetic-equation approach. https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.00873

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