  Electric fields in QED are known to discharge due to Schwinger pair
production of charged particles. Corresponding electric fields in non-Abelian
theory are known to discharge due to the production of gluons. Yet electric
flux tubes in QCD ought to be stable to the production of charged gluons as
they confine quarks. We resolve this conundrum by finding electric field
configurations in pure non-Abelian gauge theory in which the Schwinger process
is absent and the electric field is protected against quantum dissipation. We
comment on the implications for QCD flux tubes.
