Spacetime-dependent electric field effects in vacuum and plasma using the Wigner-formalism

Abstract

We derive a system of coupled partial differential equations for the equal-time Wigner function in an arbitrary strong electromagnetic field using the Dirac-Heisenberg-Wigner formalism. In the electrostatic limit, we present a 3+1-system of four coupled partial differential equations, which are completed by Ampere's law. This electrostatic system is further studied for two different cases. In the first case, we consider linearized wave propagation in plasma accounting for the nonzero vacuum expectation values. We then derive the dispersion relation and compare it with well-known limiting cases. In the second case, we consider Schwinger pair production using the local density approximation to allow for analytical treatment. The dependence of the pair production rate on the perpendicular momentum is investigated and it turns out that the spread of the produced pairs along with perpendicular momentum depends on the strength of the applied electric field.