2 00 3 Pair creation by homogeneous electric field from the point of view of an accelerated observer

With a special choice of gauge the operator of the Klein-Fock-Gordon equation in homogeneous electric field respects boost symmetry. Using this symmetry we obtain solutions for the scalar massive field equation in such a background (boost modes in the electric field). We calculate the spectrum of particles created by the electric field, as seen by an accelerated observer at spatial infinity of the right wedge of Minkowski spacetime. It is shown that the spectrum and the total number of created pairs measured by a remote uniformly accelerated observer in Minkowski spacetime are precisely the same as for inertial observers. 1. The Schwinger process of pair creation by a constant electric field from vacuum [1] have been studied in details (using different methods and different gauges of the external field) in the early 70-s [2,3,4,5,6,7]. In this literature the quantum states of created particles were labelled either by values of generalized momentum (non-stationary gauge) or energy (stationary gauge). However the constant electric field permits another symmetry which is based on invari-ance of the field with respect to Lorentz transformations along its direction. If the field is directed along the z-axis, this symmetry is generated by the boost operator B = i(t∂/∂z + z∂/∂t). The presence of boost symmetry in the problem makes it very similar to the problem of particle creation by an eternal black hole [8,9]. Thus treatment of the Schwinger process in terms of