Dynamical Effects in Pair Production by Electric Fields

Nonperturbative dynamical effects in fermion-antifermion pair production by classical electric fields are investigated. Following a summary of the results previously given in the literature, a formal connection between fermion pair production in an external field and supersymmetric quantum mechanics is pointed out. Pair production probabilities are calculated in a uniform semiclassical approximation, which yields the Schwinger result in the constant field limit. The multiplicity distributions of the created pairs are shown to be related to the elementary symmetric functions.