Currents of created pairs in strong electric fields

In this paper, we calculate tree-level currents of created particles in strong background electric fields in 4D QED for various initial states. Namely, we do that in pulse background for initial vacuum and thermal states at past infinity. In both cases, we find that the current grows linearly with the length of the pulse with coefficients of proportionality containing the characteristic Schwinger’s factor. For the constant electric field background, we calculate the current for several different initial states. We observe that in such a case the current is either zero or linearly divergent. We explain the reason for such a behavior and compare the situation in ordinary and scalar QED. Finally, we calculate the current in two-dimensional situation in the presence of such settings when the so-called Klein paradox can be observed.

Klein paradox for bosons, wave packets and negative tunnelling times

We analyse a little known aspect of the Klein paradox. A Klein–Gordon boson appears to be able to cross a supercritical rectangular barrier without being reflected, while spending there a negative amount of time. The transmission mechanism is demonstrably acausal, yet an attempt to construct the corresponding causal solution of the Klein–Gordon equation fails. We relate the causal solution to a divergent multiple-reflections series, and show that the problem is remedied for a smooth barrier, where pair production at the energy equal to a half of the barrier’s height is enhanced yet remains finite.

A time operator in the simulations of the Dirac equation

Simulations of the Dirac equation have allowed to mimic measurably the predicted unusual characteristics of the electron motion, e.g. Zitterbewegung and Klein paradox that are beyond current technical capabilities. In this paper, it is shown that a Bose–Einstein condensate experiment carried out corroborates these results, but in addition exhibits a particular feature of an observable represented by a Dirac self-adjoint time operator introduced in relativistic quantum mechanics.