Naoto Tanji

Dynamical view of pair creation in uniform electric and magnetic fields

Abstract Pair creation in a uniform classical electromagnetic field (Schwinger mechanism) is studied focusing on the time evolution of the distribution of created particles. The time evolution of the distribution in time-dependent fields is also presented as well as effects of back reaction. Motivated by the Glasma flux tube, which may be formed at the initial stage of heavy-ion collisions, we investigate effects of a magnetic field parallel to an electric field, and find that the magnetic field makes the evolution of a fermion system faster.

Formulation of the Schwinger mechanism in classical statistical field theory

In this paper, we show how classical statistical field theory techniques can be used to efficiently perform the numerical evaluation of the non-perturbative Schwinger mechanism of particle production by quantum tunneling. In some approximation, we also consider the back-reaction of the produced particles on the external field, as well as the self-interactions of the produced particles.

Properties of the Boltzmann equation in the classical approximation

We study the Boltzmann equation with elastic point-like scalar interac-tions in two different versions of the the classical approximation. Although solving numerically the Boltzmann equation with the unapproximated col-lision term poses no problem, this allows one to study the effect of the ultraviolet cutoff in these approximations. This cutoff dependence in the classical approximations of the Boltzmann equation is closely related to the non-renormalizability of the classical statistical approximation of the underlying quantum field theory. The kinetic theory setup that we con-sider here allows one to study in a much simpler way the dependence on the ultraviolet cutoff, since one has also access to the non-approximated result for comparison.

Quark pair creation in color electric fields and effects of magnetic fields

Abstract The time evolution of a system where a uniform and classical SU(3) color electric field and quantum fields of quarks interact with each other is studied focusing on non-perturbative pair creation and its back reaction. We characterize a color direction of an electric field in a gauge invariant way, and investigate its dependence. Momentum distributions of created quarks show plasma oscillation as well as quantum effects such as the Pauli blocking and interference. Pressure of the system is also calculated, and we show that pair creation moderates degree of anisotropy of pressure. Furthermore, enhancement of pair creation and induction of chiral charge under a color magnetic field which is parallel to an electric field are discussed.

Transient anomalous charge production in strong-field QCD

We investigate axial charge production in two-color QCD out of equilibrium. We compute the real-time evolution starting with spatially homogeneous strong gauge fields, while the fermions are in vacuum. The idealized class of initial conditions is motivated by glasma flux tubes in the context of heavy-ion collisions. We focus on axial charge production at early times, where important aspects of the anomalous dynamics can be derived analytically. This is compared to real-time lattice simulations. Quark production at early times leading to anomalous charge generation is investigated using Wilson fermions. Our results indicate that coherent gauge fields can transiently produce significant amounts of axial charge density, while part of the induced charges persist to be present even well beyond characteristic decoherence times. The comparisons to analytic results provide stringent tests of real-time representations of the axial anomaly on the lattice.

Electromagnetic currents induced by color fields

The quark production in classical color fields is investigated with a focus on the induction of an electromagnetic current by produced quarks. We show that the color SU(2) and the SU(3) theories lead significantly different results for the electromagnetic current. In uniform SU(2) color fields, the net electromagnetic current is not generated, while in SU(3) color fields the net current is induced depending on the color direction of background fields. Also the numerical study of the quark production in inhomogeneous color fields is done. Motivated by gauge field configurations provided by the color glass condensate framework, we introduce an ensemble of randomly distributed color electric fluxtubes. The spectrum of photons emitted from the quarks by a classical process is shown.

Pair creation in boost-invariantly expanding electric fields and two-particle correlations

Pair creation of scalar particles in a boost-invariant electric field which is confined in the forward light cone is studied. We present the proper-time evolution of momentum distributions of created particles, which preserve the boost invariance of the background field. The two-particle correlation of the created particles is also calculated. We find that long-range rapidity correlations may arise from the Schwinger mechanism in the boost-invariant electric field.

Effective kinetic description of the early-time dynamics in heavy-ion collisions

In the idealized high-energy limit of heavy-ion collisions, the system right after a collision is described as an over-occupied gluonic plasma expanding in the longitudinal direction. The understanding of the quark dynamics in such a pre-equilibrium state is of prime importance since it has a direct connection to electromagnetic probes. We report on a numerical study of the Boltzmann equation including two-to-two scatterings of gluons and quarks in the expanding geometry. In the gluon sector, we confirm the self-similar scaling behavior of the one-particle momentum distribution that is consistent with the bottom-up thermalization scenario. Also in the quark sector, we find that the distribution function show scaling behavior like those of gluons.