Semiclassical analysis of axion-assisted and axion-driven pair production

TL;DR

This paper analyzes fermion pair production in a time-dependent axion background, revealing two mechanisms: axion-assisted enhancement with electric fields and axion-driven production without electric fields, using a semiclassical approach.

Contribution

It introduces a semiclassical method with adiabatic mode functions to study axion-related pair production mechanisms in dynamic backgrounds.

Findings

Axion velocity enhances pair production via interference effects.

Pair production occurs without electric fields due to axion velocity variation.

The approach captures both electric-field-driven and axion-driven pair production processes.

Abstract

We study the pair production of fermions in a time dependent axion background with and without an electric background. We construct the adiabatic mode functions which incorporate the gauge field and the axion velocity dependence of the dispersion relation. The semiclassical approach using this adiabatic basis shows two types of pair production. One is axion-assisted pair production: the presence of the axion velocity gives enhancement and interference effects on the pair production driven by the electric field. The other is axion-driven pair production: the time variation of the axion velocity causes the pair production even though the electric field is absent.