On the kinetic equation approach to pair production by time-dependent electric field

TL;DR

This paper explores the quantum kinetic method for analyzing vacuum pair production under time-dependent electric fields, establishing its equivalence with the S-matrix approach and providing exact solutions for constant fields.

Contribution

It demonstrates the equivalence between the quantum kinetic and S-matrix approaches and supplies exact solutions for specific electric field configurations.

Findings

Quantum kinetic and S-matrix approaches are equivalent.

Exact solutions are derived for constant electric fields.

The accuracy of low-density approximation is evaluated.

Abstract

We investigate the quantum kinetic approach to pair production from vacuum by time-dependent electric field. Equivalence between this approach and the more familiar S-matrix approach is explicitly established for both scalar and fermion cases. For the particular case of a constant electric field exact solution for kinetic equations is provided and the accuracy of low-density approximation is estimated.