Flux Discharge Cascades in Various Dimensions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how electric flux can undergo cascading decay in various dimensions through pair or brane production, revealing a process that discharges flux rapidly and has broad implications for theories with compact dimensions.

Contribution

It uncovers a new flux decay mechanism triggered by single pair or brane production events causing cascades in compact spaces, which was previously unrecognized.

Findings

Cascading flux decay can be initiated by a single pair or brane production event.

The process is driven by local dynamics in compact space, not visible in reduced models.

Implications extend to string theories and the string landscape.

Abstract

We study the dynamics of electric flux discharge by charged particle pair or spherical string or membrane production in various dimensions. When electric flux wraps at least one compact cycle, we find that a single "pair" production event can initiate a cascading decay in real time that "shorts out" the flux and discharges many units of it. This process arises from local dynamics in the compact space, and so is invisible in the dimensionally-reduced truncation. It occurs in theories as simple as the Schwinger model on a circle, and has implications for any theory with compact dimensions and electric flux, including string theories and the string landscape.