Related papers: Classical and quantum aspects of electric-magnetic…
The source-free Maxwell action is invariant under electric-magnetic duality rotations in arbitrary spacetimes. This leads to a conserved classical Noether charge. We show that this conservation law is broken at the quantum level in presence…
It is known that an electric-magnetic duality transformation is a symmetry of the classical source-free Maxwell theory in generic spacetimes. This provides a conserved Noether charge, physically related to the polarization state of the…
The vacuum Einstein equations admit a formulation closely analogous to the source-free Maxwell theory. In particular, the linearized equations exhibit an electric-magnetic duality symmetry. We develop a framework that makes this analogy…
The classical symmetry of the source-free Maxwell equations under electric-magnetic duality rotations leads to a conserved Noether charge, corresponding to the circular polarization of light. We show that, in quantum field theory, the…
It is well known that not every symmetry of a classical field theory is also a symmetry of its quantum version. When this occurs, we speak of quantum anomalies. The existence of anomalies imply that some classical Noether charges are no…
We point out that the duality symmetry of free electromagnetism does not hold in the quantum theory if an arbitrary classical gravitational background is present. The symmetry breaks in the process of renormalization, as also happens with…
We discuss under what conditions the duality between electric and magnetic fields is a valid symmetry of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics. It is shown that Maxwell's equations in the absence of free charges satisfy duality invariance on…
We derive Maxwell equations for electric and magnetic fields in curved spacetime from first principles, relaxing an unnecessary assumption on the structure of the four-potential inherent to the standard approach and thus restoring the full…
The space-time curvature carried by electromagnetic fields is discovered and a new unification of geometry and electromagnetism is found. Curvature is invariant under charge reversal symmetry. Electromagnetic field equations are examined…
The electromagnetic duality symmetry of Maxwell's equations in vacuum implies that the circular polarization $Q$ of classical electromagnetic waves is conserved. In quantum field theory, the normal-ordered operator $\hat Q$ represents the…
We describe the interplay between electric-magnetic duality and higher symmetry in Maxwell theory. When the fine-structure constant is rational, the theory admits non-invertible symmetries which can be realized as composites of…
The symmetry studies of Maxwell equations gave new insight on the nature of electromagnetic (EM) field. Tey are reviewed in the work presented. It is drawing the attention on the following aspects. EM-field has in general case quaternion…
Particle creation by strong and time-varying backgrounds is a robust prediction of quantum field theory. Another well-established feature of field theory is that classical symmetries do not always extend to the quantized theory. When this…
By resolving the Riemann curvature relative to a unit timelike vector into electric and magnetic parts, we consider duality relations analogous to the electromagnetic theory. It turns out that the duality symmetry of the Einstein action…
Electromagnetic duality is a symmetry of the source-free Einstein-Maxwell equations that rotates electric and magnetic fields while leaving the stress-energy tensor invariant. We present the first fully nonlinear realization of this…
The possibility that QED and recently developed non-Hermitian, or magnetic, versions of QED are equivalent is considered. Under this duality the Hamiltonians and anomalous axial currents of the two theories are identified. A consequence of…
Vacuum fluctuations of quantum fields are altered in presence of a strong gravitational background, with important physical consequences. We argue that a non-trivial spacetime geometry can act as an optically active medium for quantum…
The symmetry studies of Maxwell equations gave new insight on the nature of electromagnetic (EM) field. It has in general case quaternion single structure, consisting of four independent field constituents, which differ with each other by…
The duality symmetry between electricity and magnetism hidden in classical Maxwell equations suggests the existence of dual charges, which have usually been interpreted as magnetic charges and have not been observed in experiments. In…
We prove that a $4d$ theory of non-linear electrodynamics has equations of motion which are equivalent to those of the Maxwell theory in curved spacetime, but with the usual metric $g_{\mu \nu}$ replaced by a unit-determinant metric $h_{\mu…