Pair production from residues of complex worldline instantons

Abstract

We study nonperturbative pair production in electric fields with lightlike inhomogeneities, using complex worldline instantons. We show that the instanton contribution to the pair production probability is a complex contour integral over the instanton itself, and that pair production in the considered fields can be recast in terms of Cauchy's residue theorem. The instantons contribute residues from the poles they circulate (i.e. give local contributions), and the invariance of complex integrals under contour deformation manifests in the instanton contributions as invariance under a set of generalised, complex, reparameterisations.Comment: 6 pages, 3 pdf/png figures. Matches journal versio

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“…This is of course natural, and we remark only that similar terms appear in worldline instanton calculations of pair production, see e.g. [50] and the discussion of the argument principle in [49].…”

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Dynamically assisted nuclear fusion

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