Plasmons in QED Vacuum

TL;DR

This paper investigates classical plasma-like oscillations in the quantum electrodynamics vacuum, deriving their properties and mass spectrum using semiclassical methods in a simplified (1+1)-dimensional model.

Contribution

It introduces a semiclassical analysis of plasmons in QED vacuum and calculates their mass spectrum, linking classical solutions to quantum bound states.

Findings

Existence of plasmons in QED vacuum confirmed

Mass spectrum of plasmons determined via Bohr--Sommerfeld quantization

Qualitative analysis of plasmons in (3+1)-dimensions provided

Abstract

The problem of longitudinal oscillations of an electric field and a charge polarization density in QED vacuum is considered. Within the framework of semiclassical analysis, we calculate time-periodic solutions of bosonized (1+1)-dimensional QED (massive Schwinger model). Applying the Bohr--Sommerfeld quantization condition, we determine the mass spectrum of charge-zero bound states (plasmons) which correspond in quantum theory to the found classical solutions. We show that the existence of such plasmons does not contradict any fundamental physical laws and study qualitatively their excitation in (3+1)-dimensional real world.