Evolution of strictly localized states in non-interacting quantum field theories with background fields

Abstract: We investigate the construction of spin-1/2 fermionic and spin-0 bosonic wave-packets having compact spatial support in the framework of a computational quantum field theory (QFT) scheme offering space-time solutions of the relativistic wave equations in background fields. In order to construct perfectly localized wave-packets, we introduce a spatial density operator accounting for particles of both positive and negative charge. We examine properties of the vacuum and single-particle expectation values of this operator and compare them to the standard QFT particle and anti-particle spatial densities. The formalism is illustrated by computing numerically the Klein tunneling dynamics of strictly localized wave-packets impinging on a supercritical electrostatic step. The density operator introduced here could be useful to model situations in which it is desirable to avoid dealing with the infinite spatial tails intrinsic to pure particle or anti-particle wave-packets.