Short-term evolution of electron wave packet in a constant crossed field with radiative corrections

Abstract

We study the dynamics of an electron wave packet in a strong constant crossed electromagnetic field with account for radiative corrections due to interaction of the electron with the vacuum fluctuations. We evaluate a wave packet composed of the solutions to the Dyson-Schwinger equation, which describes electron propagation without emission of real photons. Spacetime dependence of the wave packet is obtained analytically for a short time interval, the more restricted from above the wider is the packet in momentum space. The radiative corrections alter the electron wavefunction, resulting in particular in a damping of the wave packet. The expectation value of the Dirac spin operator also gets modified.