Skip to main content

NOTICE: Due to a lapse in annual appropriations, most of this website is not being updated. Learn more.

Form submissions will still be accepted but will not receive responses at this time. Sections of this site for programs using non-appropriated funds (such as NVLAP) or those that are excepted from the shutdown (such as CHIPS and NVD) will continue to be updated.

U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Exceeding the Sauter-Schwinger limit of pair production with a quantum gas

Published

Author(s)

Alina M. Pineiro Escalera, Mingwu Lu, Dina Genkina, Ian Spielman

Abstract

We quantum-simulated particle-antiparticle pair production with a bosonic quantum gas in an optical lattice by emulating the requisite 1d Dirac equation and uniform electric field. We emulated field strengths far in excess of Sauter-Schwinger's limit for pair production in quantum electrodynamics, and therefore readily produced particles from "the Dirac vacuum" in quantitative agreement with theory. The observed process is equivalently described by Landau- Zener tunneling familiar in the atomic physics context.
Citation
New Journal of Physics

Citation

Pineiro Escalera, A. , Lu, M. , Genkina, D. and Spielman, I. (2019), Exceeding the Sauter-Schwinger limit of pair production with a quantum gas, New Journal of Physics, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=927722 (Accessed October 7, 2025)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact [email protected].

Created September 20, 2019, Updated October 12, 2021
Was this page helpful?