Enhancement of pair creation due to locality in bound-continuum interactions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the localization of bound states in a potential well influences electron-positron pair production, revealing that more localized states in position space can enhance pair creation due to their wider momentum space extension.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the locality of bound states significantly affects pair production rates, contrasting with previous expectations about the role of extended states.

Findings

Narrower bound states increase pair production efficiency.

Localized states have wider momentum space, enhancing interactions.

Enhancement occurs in both perturbative and non-perturbative regimes.

Abstract

Electron-positron pair production from vacuum is studied in combined background fields, a binding electric potential well and a laser field. The production process is triggered by the interactions between the bound states in the potential well and the continuum states in the Dirac sea. By tuning the binding potential well, the pair production can be strongly affected by the locality of the bound states. The narrower bound states in position space are more efficient for pair production. This is in contrast to what is commonly expected that the wider extended bound states have larger region to interact with external fields and would thus create more particles. This surprise can be explained as the more localized bound states have a much wider extension in the momentum space, which can enhance the bound-continuum interactions in the creation process. This enhancement manifests itself in both perturbative and non-perturbative production regimes.