Nonlinear transport of electrons in strong electric fields, as typified by dielectric breakdown, is reformulated in terms of the ground-state decay rate originally studied by Schwinger in nonlinear QED. We discuss the effect of electron interaction on Zener tunneling by comparing the dielectric breakdown of the band insulator and the Mott insulator, where the latter is studied by the time-dependent density-matrix renormalization group. The relation with the Berry’s phase theory of polarization is also established.

• Received 19 March 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.137601