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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.17743 |
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| _version_ | 1866911624992915456 |
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| author | Tahery, Sara Chang, Qin |
| author_facet | Tahery, Sara Chang, Qin |
| contents | We investigate the holographic Schwinger effect in a confining background with a step dilaton profile, which induces a sharp transition between ultraviolet and infrared regimes and provides a qualitatively distinct realization of confinement. Within this framework, the quark--antiquark potential is extracted from the classical configuration of a fundamental string, allowing for a direct analysis of vacuum instability and pair production. In the absence of a magnetic field, the step dilaton leads to a significantly sharper suppression of the potential barrier as the electric field increases, implying an enhanced sensitivity of the critical electric field compared to smooth soft-wall models and demonstrating that the abrupt geometric transition qualitatively enhances the onset of vacuum decay. Incorporating an external magnetic field through the Dirac--Born--Infeld action, we find a nontrivial and amplified deformation of the potential barrier, resulting in a pronounced shift of the critical electric field that depends on both the magnitude and orientation of the magnetic field. Overall, the step dilaton background exhibits a substantially stronger response of the Schwinger effect to external electromagnetic fields than conventional soft-wall models, providing a novel mechanism for controlling pair production and highlighting the crucial role of dilaton structure in non-perturbative dynamics of holographic QCD. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_17743 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Holographic Schwinger Effect In a Step Dilaton Background Tahery, Sara Chang, Qin High Energy Physics - Theory We investigate the holographic Schwinger effect in a confining background with a step dilaton profile, which induces a sharp transition between ultraviolet and infrared regimes and provides a qualitatively distinct realization of confinement. Within this framework, the quark--antiquark potential is extracted from the classical configuration of a fundamental string, allowing for a direct analysis of vacuum instability and pair production. In the absence of a magnetic field, the step dilaton leads to a significantly sharper suppression of the potential barrier as the electric field increases, implying an enhanced sensitivity of the critical electric field compared to smooth soft-wall models and demonstrating that the abrupt geometric transition qualitatively enhances the onset of vacuum decay. Incorporating an external magnetic field through the Dirac--Born--Infeld action, we find a nontrivial and amplified deformation of the potential barrier, resulting in a pronounced shift of the critical electric field that depends on both the magnitude and orientation of the magnetic field. Overall, the step dilaton background exhibits a substantially stronger response of the Schwinger effect to external electromagnetic fields than conventional soft-wall models, providing a novel mechanism for controlling pair production and highlighting the crucial role of dilaton structure in non-perturbative dynamics of holographic QCD. |
| title | Holographic Schwinger Effect In a Step Dilaton Background |
| topic | High Energy Physics - Theory |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.17743 |