Quantum Electrodynamics of Strong Fields: With an Introduction into Modern Relativistic Quantum MechanicsThe fundamental goal of physics is an understanding of the forces of nature in their simplest and most general terms. Yet there is much more involved than just a basic set of equations which eventually has to be solved when applied to specific problems. We have learned in recent years that the structure of the ground state of field theories (with which we are generally concerned) plays an equally funda mental role as the equations of motion themselves. Heisenberg was probably the first to recognize that the ground state, the vacuum, could acquire certain prop erties (quantum numbers) when he devised a theory of ferromagnetism. Since then, many more such examples are known in solid state physics, e. g. supercon ductivity, superfluidity, in fact all problems concerned with phase transitions of many-body systems, which are often summarized under the name synergetics. Inspired by the experimental observation that also fundamental symmetries, such as parity or chiral symmetry, may be violated in nature, it has become wide ly accepted that the same field theory may be based on different vacua. Practical ly all these different field phases have the status of more or less hypothetical models, not (yet) directly accessible to experiments. There is one magnificent ex ception and this is the change of the ground state (vacuum) of the electron-posi tron field in superstrong electric fields. |
Contents
1 | |
3 | |
Bibliographical Notes | 25 |
Bibliographical Notes | 58 |
49 | 72 |
1573 | 75 |
Bibliographical Notes | 91 |
The Klein Paradox | 121 |
The Dynamics of HeavyIon Collisions | 313 |
Experimental Test of Supercritical Fields in HeavyIon Collisions | 345 |
Vacuum Polarization | 389 |
Arbitrarily Strong External Potentials | 415 |
ManyBody Effects in QED of Strong Fields | 431 |
Bosons Bound in Strong Potentials | 470 |
Subcritical External Potentials | 484 |
Overcritical Potential for Bose Fields | 499 |
Quantum Electrodynamics of Weak Fields | 174 |
The Classical Dirac Field Interacting with a Classical | 194 |
Second Quantization of the Dirac Field and Definition of | 212 |
Evolution of the Vacuum State in Supercritical Potentials | 257 |
Superheavy Quasimolecules | 300 |
Strong YangMills Fields | 520 |
Strong Fields in General Relativity | 550 |
573 | |
586 | |
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Quantum Electrodynamics of Strong Fields: With an Introduction into Modern ... Walter Greiner,B. Müller,J. Rafelski No preview available - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
amplitude angular momentum antiparticle approximation atom behaviour bound calculated Chap charge density charged vacuum condensate Coulomb potential coupling d³x decay denoted described Dirac equation Dirac field discussed diving effects eigenstates eigenvalues electromagnetic electron external field external potential Fermi Feynman finite Fock space gauge gluon Hamiltonian heavy-ion collisions Hence hole theory integral interaction Klein-Gordon equation Lorentz transformations matrix moc² negative energy continuum neutral vacuum nuclear charge nuclei observer obtained operator overcritical pair creation particles perturbative phase shift Phys physical positive energy positron positron spectra propagator quantized quantum numbers quarks quasi-molecular relativistic resonance scattering Sect single-particle solutions space spectrum spinor spontaneous positron supercritical superheavy symmetry term tion two-centre vacuum charge vacuum energy vacuum polarization vanishes vector wave function Z₁ μν