Effective mass signatures in multiphoton pair production.

Electron-positron pair production in oscillating electric fields is investigated in the nonperturbative threshold regime. Accurate numerical solutions of quantum kinetic theory for corresponding observables are presented and analyzed in terms of a proposed model for an effective mass of electrons and positrons acquired within the given strong electric field. Although this effective mass cannot provide an exact description of the collective interaction of a charged particle with the strong field, physical observables are identified which carry direct and sensitive signatures of the effective mass.

QCD and strongly coupled gauge theories: challenges and perspectives.

We highlight the progress, current status, and open challenges of QCD-driven physics, in theory and in experiment. We discuss how the strong interaction is intimately connected to a broad sweep of physical problems, in settings ranging from astrophysics and cosmology to strongly coupled, complex systems in particle and condensed-matter physics, as well as to searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. We also discuss how success in describing the strong interaction impacts other fields, and, in turn, how such subjects can impact studies of the strong interaction.

Infrared saturation and phases of gauge theories with BRST symmetry.

We investigate the infrared limit of the quantum equation of motion of the gauge boson propagator in various gauges and models with a BRST symmetry. We find that the saturation of this equation at low momenta distinguishes between the Coulomb, Higgs and confining phase of the gauge theory. The Coulomb phase is characterized by a massless gauge boson.

Particle self-bunching in the Schwinger effect in spacetime-dependent electric fields.

Nonperturbative electron-positron pair creation (the Schwinger effect) is studied based on the Dirac-Heisenberg-Wigner formalism in 1+1 dimensions. An ab initio calculation of the Schwinger effect in the presence of a simple space- and time-dependent electric field pulse is performed for the first time, allowing for the calculation of the time evolution of observable quantities such as the charge density, the particle number density or the total number of created particles. We predict a new self-bunching effect of charges in phase space due to the spatial and temporal structure of the pulse.

Nucleon mass from a covariant three-quark Faddeev equation.

We report the first study of the nucleon where the full Poincaré-covariant structure of the three-quark amplitude is implemented in the Faddeev equation. We employ an interaction kernel which is consistent with contemporary studies of meson properties and aspects of chiral symmetry and its dynamical breaking, thus yielding a comprehensive approach to hadron physics. The resulting current-mass evolution of the nucleon mass compares well with lattice data and deviates only by ∼5% from the quark-diquark result obtained in previous studies.