Energy-momentum tensor in thermal strong-field QED with unstable vacuum

TL;DR

This paper calculates the mean energy-momentum tensor in thermal QED with strong electric fields that cause vacuum instability, highlighting how such fields affect vacuum stability and particle distributions, and establishing conditions where back-reaction can be neglected.

Contribution

It provides a novel calculation of the energy-momentum tensor in thermal strong-field QED considering vacuum instability effects, extending previous effective action approaches.

Findings

Electric fields can destabilize vacuum and alter thermal particle distributions.

Conditions are identified where back-reaction effects are negligible.

The role of electric field strength and duration in vacuum stability is clarified.

Abstract

The mean value of the one-loop energy-momentum tensor in thermal QED with electric-like background that creates particles from vacuum is calculated. The problem differes essentially from calculations of effective actions (similar to that of Heisenberg--Euler) in backgrounds that do not violate the stability of vacuum. The role of a constant electric background in the violation of both the stability of vacuum and the thermal character of particle distribution is investigated. Restrictions on the electric field and its duration under which one can neglect the back-reaction of created particles are established.