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Electron-positron pair production in external electric fields varying both in space and time

The Schwinger mechanism of electron-positron pair production in the presence of strong external electric fields is analyzed numerically for the case of one- and two-dimensional field configurations where the external field depends both on time and one spatial coordinate. In order to provide this analysis, a new efficient numerical approach is developed. The number of particles created is obtained numerically and also compared with the analytical results for several exactly solvable one-dimensional backgrounds. For the case of two-dimensional field configurations the effects of the spatial finiteness are examined, which confirms their importance and helps us to attest our approach further. The corresponding calculations are also performed for several more interesting and nontrivial combinations of temporal and spatial inhomogeneities. Finally, we discuss the case of a spatially periodic external field when the approach is particularly productive. The method employed is described in detail.