Magnetic vacuum polarization effects in the supercritical QED: spontaneous generation of a stable highly magnetized phase of the vacuum state

TL;DR

This paper investigates how supercritical Coulomb sources induce a spontaneous, highly magnetized vacuum phase through non-perturbative effects, potentially stabilizing extra-heavy nuclear clusters.

Contribution

It demonstrates the formation of a stable, highly magnetized vacuum phase caused by supercritical Coulomb sources using a non-perturbative approach and numerical calculations.

Findings

Magnetic vacuum polarization significantly lowers system energy.

Spontaneous axial vacuum current and magnetic fields are generated.

Numerical evidence for stable heavy nuclear clusters at Z=828.

Abstract

The spontaneous generation of axial vacuum current and corresponding magnetic field with multipole structure, caused by the supercritical Coulomb source with charge $Z$ and size $R$, is explored in essentially non-perturbative approach with emphasis on the vacuum energy $\cal{E}_{VP}$, considered as a function of $R$ with fixed $Z$. The properties of such highly magnetized vacuum phase are studied in detail. It is shown that the arising this way magnetic component of the supercritical vacuum polarization leads to a significant decrease of the total energy of the system, which could provide the formation of a stable extra-heavy nuclear cluster. Numerical calculations proving the latter in case of the specific spherically symmetric Coulomb source with $Z = 828$ are presented.