English

Anisotropic effects of background fields on Born-Infeld electromagnetic waves

High Energy Physics - Theory 2011-07-19 v2 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology Optics

Abstract

We show exact solutions of Born-Infeld theory for electromagnetic plane waves propagating in the presence of static background fields. The non-linear character of Born-Infeld equations generates an interaction between background and wave that changes the speed of propagation and adds a longitudinal component to the wave. As a consequence, in a magnetic background the ray direction differs from the propagation direction --a behavior resembling the one of a wave in an anisotropic medium--. This feature could open up a way to experimental tests of Born-Infeld theory.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.hep-th/0607072,
  title  = {Anisotropic effects of background fields on Born-Infeld electromagnetic waves},
  author = {Matias Aiello and Gabriel Bengochea and Rafael Ferraro},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:hep-th/0607072},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

4 pages, Revtex4, 1 figure, corrected typos, comments clarified, version accepted for publication