Schwinger Effect in Inflaton-Driven Electric Field

Abstract

In a four dimensional inflation theory, a persistent electric field can be established by making the inflaton coupled to the gauge field like a dilaton. We investigate the pair production of scalar particles in the inflaton-driven electric field. In particular, we evaluate the induced current due to the pair production. The presence of the dilatonic coupling ensures the validity of the WKB approximation at the past and the future infinities, without tuning constant parameters. Thus, the semiclassical description is applicable in evaluating the induced current. Solving the field equations with the induced current, we evaluate the first-order backreaction to the electric field. It turns out that the electric field decreases with the cosmic expansion. The result indicates that the no-anisotropic hair theorem for inflation holds true regardless of whether the dilatonic coupling is present or not.