Related papers: Strongly Magnetized Sources: QED and X-ray Polariz…
The quantum electrodynamics (QED) theory predicts that the quantum vacuum becomes birefringent in the presence of ultra-strong magnetic fields -- a fundamental effect yet to be directly observed. Magnetars, isolated neutron stars with…
In the presence of strong magnetic fields, the vacuum becomes a birefringent medium. We show that this QED effect couples the direction of the polarization of photons leaving the NS surface, to the direction of the magnetic field along the…
In the presence of strong magnetic fields, the vacuum becomes a birefringent medium. We show that this QED effect decouples the polarization modes of photons leaving the NS surface. Both the total intensity and the intensity in each of the…
Aims. The magnetized medium induces birefringence, splitting the light into two distinct wave modes. The differing propagation speeds of the two modes result in different trajectories. Strong gravitational lensing amplifies the…
The effect of vacuum birefringence is one of the first predictions of quantum electrodynamics (QED): the presence of a charged Dirac field makes the vacuum birefringent when threaded by magnetic fields. This effect, extremely weak for…
The thermal emission of strongly magnetized neutron-star atmospheres is thought to be highly polarized. However, because of the different orientations of the magnetic field over the surface of the neutron star (NS), it is commonly assumed…
In a recent paper it is claimed that vacuum birefringence has been experimentally observed for the first time by measuring the degree of polarization of visible light from a Magnetar candidate, a neutron star with a magnetic field…
Extremely strong magnetic fields change the vacuum index of refraction. Although this polarization dependent effect is small for typical neutron stars, it is large enough to decouple the polarization states of photons traveling within the…
A strong electromagnetic field polarizes the vacuum and in the presence of an electric field creates pairs of a charged particle and its anti-particle. Magnetars, highly magnetized neutron stars with magnetic field comparable to or greater…
X-ray photons emitted from the surface or atmosphere of a magnetized neutron star is highly polarized. However, the observed polarization may be modified due to photon propagation through the star's magnetosphere. For photon frequencies…
In the next decade, x-ray polarimetry will open a new window on the high-energy Universe, as several missions that include an x-ray polarimeter are currently under development. Observations of the polarization of x-rays coming from the…
The exceptionally high X-ray polarization recently detected in the magnetar 1E 1547.0-5408 is considered a strong candidate signature of quantum electrodynamic vacuum birefringence, an interpretation that hinges critically on the source's…
Magnetars are believed to host the strongest magnetic fields in the present universe ($B\gtrsim10^{14}$ G) and the study of their persistent emission in the X-ray band offers an unprecendented opportunity to gain insight into physical…
The non-linear electrodynamics influence of pulsar magnetic field on the electromagnetic pulse polarization is discussed from the point of observation interpretation. The calculations of pulsar magnetic field impact on electromagnetic pulse…
In the presence of strong magnetic fields near pulsars, the QED vacuum becomes a birefringent medium due to nonlinear QED interactions. Here, we explore the impact of the effective photon-photon interaction on the polarization evolution of…
In this paper we represent nonperturbative calculation for one-loop Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) vacuum birefringence in presence of strong magnetic field. The dispersion relations for electromagnetic wave propagating in strong magnetic…
The overcritical regime of axion-electrodynamics (AED) is investigated. For magnetic fields larger than the characteristic scale linked to AED, quantum vacuum fluctuations due to axion-like fields can dominate over those associated with the…
Birefringence in ionized, magnetized media is usually measured as Faraday rotation of linearly polarized radiation. However, pulses propagating through regions with very large Faraday rotation measures (RMs) can split into circularly…
Vacuum birefringence produces a differential phase between orthogonally polarized components of a weak electromagnetic probe in the presence of a strong electromagnetic field. Despite representing a hallmark prediction of quantum…
Cosmological birefringence is a rotation of the polarization plane of photons coming from sources of astrophysical and cosmological origin. The rotation can also depend on the energy of the photons and not only on the distance of the source…