2018/08/21 by Akal, Abram
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Quantum optics and atomic interactions
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1808.06868
openalex publication_date 2018/08/21 · openalex created_date 2022/10/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The imaginary part of the one loop effective action in external backgrounds can be efficiently computed using worldline instantons which are closed periodic paths in spacetime. Exact solutions for nonstatic backgrounds are only known in certain cases. In this paper, we propose a novel technique allowing the construction of further exactly solvable models. In order to do so, we introduce a deformation function which maps the worldline instantons for a given model to the closed periodic stationary paths of a new model. Executing this procedure iteratively results in a chain of infinitely many solvable models. Similar ideas were applied to topological and nontopological defects in quantum field theory. We explicitly discuss the tunneling exponential in the Schwinger pair creation rate and illustrate the validity of the proposed technique for well-known cases.