Title Author Keyword ::: Volume ::: Vol. 69Vol. 68Vol. 67Vol. 66Vol. 65Vol. 64Vol. 63Vol. 62Vol. 61Vol. 60Vol. 59Vol. 58Vol. 57Vol. 56Vol. 55Vol. 54Vol. 53Vol. 52Vol. 51Vol. 50Vol. 49Vol. 48Vol. 47Vol. 46Vol. 45Vol. 44Vol. 43Vol. 42Vol. 41Vol. 40Vol. 39Vol. 38Vol. 37Vol. 36Vol. 35Vol. 34Vol. 33Vol. 32Vol. 31Vol. 30Vol. 29Vol. 28Vol. 27Vol. 26Vol. 25Vol. 24Vol. 23Vol. 22Vol. 21Vol. 20Vol. 19Vol. 18Vol. 17Vol. 16Vol. 15Vol. 14Vol. 13Vol. 12Vol. 11Vol. 10Vol. 9Vol. 8Vol. 7Vol. 6Vol. 5Vol. 4Vol. 3Vol. 2Vol. 1 ::: Issue ::: No. 12No. 11No. 10No. 9No. 8No. 7No. 6No. 5No. 4No. 3No. 2No. 1

https://doi.org/10.3938/NPSM.69.1200
Propagation of Light by Strong Electric Field in Born-Infeld Electrodynamics

Jin Young KIM*

Department of Physics, Gunsan National University, Gunsan 54150, Korea
Correspondence to: jykim@kunsan.ac.kr
Received September 17, 2019; Revised October 4, 2019; Accepted October 4, 2019.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
We study the propagation of an electromagnetic wave in a strong external electric field in Born-Infeld electrodynamics considering the quantum effect. The interaction between the external electromagnetic field and the quantum fluctuation of vacuum causes an anisotropy of the vacuum polarization. This can be represented as non-symmetric terms in the electric permittivity and magnetic permeability tensors. We derive the effective indices of refraction for the parallel and the transverse modes from the condition for the wave equation, as derived from the Maxwell equations reflecting the asymmetry, to have a non-trivial solution. The generalized Born-Infeld electrodynamics with two parameter $\beta_{P}$ and $\beta_{S}$ reduces to the classical Born-Infeld electrodynamics when $\beta_{P}=\beta_{S}$ and the duality of the non-linear electrodynamics holds. However, the duality is broken in quantum Born-Infeld electrodynamics where $\beta_{P}\neq \beta_{S}$. If we apply the result to light passing around a charged black hole or an atomic nucleus, the path of light will be bent by the gradient of the effective index of refraction, and the bending angle can be computed.
PACS numbers: 42.25.Dd, 12.20.-m, 12.90.+b
Keywords: Born-Infeld electrodynamics, Propagation of light, Index of refraction

November 2019, 69 (11)