  We calculate the pair production rates for spin-$1$ or vector particles on
spaces of the form $M \times {\mathbb R}^{1,1}$ with $M$ corresponding to
${\mathbb R}^2$ (flat), $S^2$ (positive curvature) and $H^2$ (negative
curvature), with and without a background (chromo)magnetic field on $M$. Beyond
highlighting the effects of curvature and background magnetic field, this is
particularly interesting since vector particles are known to suffer from the
Nielsen-Olesen instability, which can dramatically increase pair production
rates. The form of this instability for $S^2$ and $H^2$ is obtained. We also
give a brief discussion of how our results relate to ideas about confinement in
nonabelian theories.
