English

Quantum diffusion of magnetic fields in a numerical worldline approach

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2009-11-07 v2 High Energy Physics - Lattice High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

We propose a numerical technique for calculating effective actions of electromagnetic backgrounds based on the worldline formalism. As a conceptually simple example, we consider scalar electrodynamics in three dimensions to one-loop order. Beyond the constant-magnetic-field case, serving as a benchmark test, we analyze the effective action of a step-function-like magnetic field -- a configuration that is inaccessible to derivative expansions. We observe magnetic-field diffusion, i.e., nonvanishing magnetic action density at space points near the magnetic step where the classical field vanishes.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.hep-ph/0102185,
  title  = {Quantum diffusion of magnetic fields in a numerical worldline approach},
  author = {Holger Gies and Kurt Langfeld},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:hep-ph/0102185},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

15 pages, 3 figures, v2: numerical analysis in Sect.3 improved, references added, typos corrected, version to appear in NPB

R2 v1 2026-07-22T13:32:20.883Z