Semiclassical pair production rate for rotating electric fields

Abstract

We semiclassically investigate Schwinger pair production for pulsed rotating electric fields depending on time. To do so we solve the Dirac equation for two-component fields in a Wentzel--Kramers--Brillouin-like approximation. The result shows that for two-component fields the spin distribution of produced pairs is generally not $1\ensuremath{\mathbin:}1$. As a result the pair creation rates of spinor and scalar QED are different even for one pair of turning points. For rotating electric fields, the pair creation rate is dominated by particles with a specific spin depending on the sense of rotation for a certain range of pulse lengths and frequencies. We present an analytical solution for the momentum spectrum of the constant rotating field. We find interference effects not only in the momentum spectrum but also in the total particle number of rotating electric fields.