Electrons in an eccentric background field

TL;DR

This paper develops a comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding electron behavior in elliptically polarised plane wave backgrounds, unifying various polarization cases and analyzing mass shifts and propagator properties.

Contribution

It provides an all-orders calculation of the electron two-point function in elliptic backgrounds, revealing polarization independence of the mass shift and clarifying the momentum space description.

Findings

Mass shift is polarization independent across elliptic backgrounds.

Two-point function is calculated to all orders in the background field.

Clarification of the momentum space description for electrons in elliptic fields.

Abstract

We present a description of electrons propagating in an elliptically polarised plane wave background which includes circular and linear polarisations as special cases. We calculate to all orders in the background field the two point function and relate it to various expressions found in the literature. The background field induced mass shift of the electron is shown to be polarisation independent in the full elliptic class. The matrix nature of this mass shift in the fermionic theory is discussed. The extent to which a momentum space description is possible for this system is clarified.