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Navarro-Salas, J., & Pla, S. (2022). Particle Creation and the Schwinger Model. Symmetry-Basel, 14(11), 2435–9pp.
Abstract: We study the particle creation process in the Schwinger model coupled with an external classical source. One can approach the problem by taking advantage of the fact that the full quantized model is solvable and equivalent to a (massive) gauge field with a non-local effective action. Alternatively, one can also face the problem by following the standard semiclassical route. This means quantizing the massless Dirac field and considering the electromagnetic field as a classical background. We evaluate the energy created by a generic, homogeneous, and time-dependent source. The results match exactly in both approaches. This proves in a very direct and economical way the validity of the semiclassical approach for the (massless) Schwinger model, in agreement with a previous analysis based on the linear response equation. Our discussion suggests that a similar analysis for the massive Schwinger model could be used as a non-trivial laboratory to confront a fully quantized solvable model with its semiclassical approximation, therefore mimicking the long-standing confrontation of quantum gravity with quantum field theory in curved spacetime.
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Ferreiro, A., Navarro-Salas, J., & Pla, S. (2018). Role of gravity in the pair creation induced by electric fields. Phys. Rev. D, 98(4), 045015–6pp.
Abstract: We analyze the pair production induced by homogenous, time-dependent electric fields in an expanding space-time background. We point out that, in obtaining the semiclassical Maxwell equations, two distinct notions of adiabatic renormalization are possible. In Minkowski space, the two recipes turn out to be equivalent. However, in the presence of gravity, only the recipe requiring an adiabatic hierarchy between the gravitational and the gauge field is consistent with the conservation of the energy-momentum tensor.
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Beltran-Palau, P., Navarro-Salas, J., & Pla, S. (2019). Translational anomaly of chiral fermions in two dimensions. Phys. Rev. D, 99(10), 105008–5pp.
Abstract: It is well known that a quantized two-dimensional Weyl fermion coupled to gravity spoils general covariance and breaks the covariant conservation of the energy-momentum tensor. In this brief article, we point out that the quantum conservation of the momentum can also fail in flat spacetime, provided the Weyl fermion is coupled to a time-varying homogeneous electric field. This signals a quantum anomaly of the space-translation symmetry, which has not been highlighted in the literature so far.
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Beltran-Palau, P., Ferreiro, A., Navarro-Salas, J., & Pla, S. (2019). Breaking of adiabatic invariance in the creation of particles by electromagnetic backgrounds. Phys. Rev. D, 100(8), 085014–12pp.
Abstract: Particles are spontaneously created from the vacuum by time-varying gravitational or electromagnetic backgrounds. It has been proven that the particle number operator in an expanding universe is an adiabatic invariant. In this paper we show that, in some special cases, the expected adiabatic invariance of the particle number fails in presence of electromagnetic backgrounds. In order to do this, we consider as a prototype a Sauter-type electric pulse. Furthermore, we also show a close relation between the breaking of the adiabatic invariance and the emergence of the axial anomaly.
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Ferreiro, A., Navarro-Salas, J., & Pla, S. (2020). R-summed form of adiabatic expansions in curved spacetime. Phys. Rev. D, 101(10), 105011–12pp.
Abstract: The Feynman propagator in curved spacetime admits an asymptotic (Schwinger-DeWitt) series expansion in derivatives of the metric. Remarkably, all terms in the series containing the Ricci scalar R can be summed exactly. We show that this (nonperturbative) property of the Schwinger-DeWitt series has a natural and equivalent counterpart in the adiabatic (Parker-Fulling) series expansion of the scalar modes in an homogeneous cosmological spacetime. The equivalence between both R-summed adiabatic expansions can be further extended when a background scalar field is also present.
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