Doubly assisted Sauter-Schwinger effect

TL;DR

This paper investigates how combining a strong, slowly varying electric field with a weaker, rapidly changing field and high-energy photons exponentially increases electron-positron pair creation probability, potentially enabling experimental verification.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of doubly assisted Sauter-Schwinger effect, demonstrating a significant enhancement in pair creation probability through combined field and photon assistance.

Findings

Exponential increase in pair creation probability with combined fields and photons

Potential for experimental observation of the Sauter-Schwinger effect

Deeper understanding of non-perturbative quantum electrodynamics phenomena

Abstract

We study electron-positron pair creation by a strong and slowly varying electric field, assisted by a weaker and more rapidly changing field (e.g., in the keV regime) plus an additional high-energy (say MeV) photon. It turns out that this combination can yield a pair creation probability which is exponentially larger than in the case where one (or more) of the three ingredients is missing. Apart from a deeper understanding of these non-perturbative phenomena, this double enhancement may pave the way for an experimental verification of this fundamental prediction.