Speaker
Description
We study the QED effective action in strong electric fields. Employing the Weisskopf (1936) and
Nikishov (1969) summation methods, novel analytical properties of the QED strong field effective
action are discovered, inaccessible to Schwinger proper time method. Using these rediscovered
tools we incorporate anomalous magnetic moment as a correction to the Euler-Heisenberg, and
Sauter potential step actions. The resulting nonperturbative phenomena include periodicity in the
spin g-factor with a cusp at g=2. We demonstrate how these effects impact particle production
in both quasi-constant and sharply localized fields, at strengths achieved in relativistic heavy ion
collisions and relevant to magnetars
References
Emergence of periodic effective action in electric backgrounds: The case of arbitrary magnetic
moment. S. Evans, J. Rafelski. In preparation.
J. Rafelski, L. Labun, S. Evans, A cusp in QED at g=2. In preparation, see also arXiv:1205.1835
