The  paper of  the  month,  chosen  by  the Editor-in-Chief,  is  "Time Scales in Dynamical Sauter-Schwinger Pair Creation: Dependence of Transverse Momentum"  by Deepak Saha and Manoranjan P. Singh;

DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.148.149

The paper investigates the creation of electron–positron pairs by a time-dependent and linearly polarized electric field. It is possible to derive an exact solution of the Dirac equation in the studied case and determine the density of created pairs as a function of the electron momentum. Previous investigations, in general, analyzed the dependence of electron distribution on the parallel component of momentum and for vanishing perpendicular one. This paper focuses on the dependence of instantaneous distributions on perpendicular momentum in the pulse and on identifying three characteristic time intervals (scales) that play a significant role in the creation of electron–positron plasma. The paper contributes significantly to our understanding of the pair creation in a rapidly developing area of strong laser field interactions with matter.

The Editor-in-Chief