Effective quantum electrodynamics action
In physics, the
Euler?Heisenberg Lagrangian
describes the
non-linear dynamics
of
electromagnetic fields
in
vacuum
. It was first obtained by
Werner Heisenberg
and
Hans Heinrich Euler
[1]
in 1936. By treating the vacuum as a medium, it predicts rates of
quantum electrodynamics
(QED)
light
interaction processes.
[
clarification needed
]
Physics
[
edit
]
It takes into account
vacuum polarization
to one loop, and is valid for electromagnetic fields that change slowly compared to the inverse electron mass,
Here
m
is the electron mass,
e
the electron charge,
, and
.
In the weak field limit, this becomes
It describes
photon?photon scattering
in QED;
Robert Karplus
and Maurice Neuman calculated the full amplitude,
[2]
which is very small.
Experiments
[
edit
]
Delbruck scattering
of
gamma rays
was observed in 1953 by Robert Wilson.
[3]
Photon
splitting in strong
magnetic fields
was measured in 2002.
[4]
Light-by-light scattering can be studied using the strong electromagnetic fields of the hadrons collided at the LHC,
[5]
[6]
and its observation was reported by the
ATLAS Collaboration
in 2019.
[7]
PVLAS
is searching for vacuum polarization of
laser
beams crossing magnetic fields to detect effects from
axion
dark matter
. No signal has been found and searches continue. OSQAR at
CERN
is also studying vacuum
birefringence
.
In 2016 a team of astronomers from Italy, Poland, and the U.K. reported
[8]
[9]
observations of the light emitted by a neutron star (
pulsar
RX J1856.5?3754
). The star is surrounded by a very strong magnetic field (10
13
G), and birefringence is expected from the vacuum polarization described by the Euler?Heisenberg Lagrangian. A
degree of polarization
of about 16% was measured and was claimed to be "large enough to support the presence of vacuum birefringence, as predicted by QED". Fan et al. pointed that their results are uncertain due to low accuracy of star model and the direction of the neutron magnetization axis.
[10]
In July 2021 the first known observation of vacuum birefringence was reported by the
STAR experiment
at the
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
, the
Breit?Wheeler process
was also studied although only evidence was reported.
[11]
[12]
[13]
In May 2022 the first study of
IXPE
has hinted the possibility of vacuum birefringence on
4U 0142+61
.
[14]
[15]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Heisenberg, W.; Euler, H. (1936). "Folgerungen aus der Diracschen Theorie des Positrons".
Zeitschrift fur Physik
(in German).
98
(11?12): 714?732.
Bibcode
:
1936ZPhy...98..714H
.
doi
:
10.1007/bf01343663
.
ISSN
1434-6001
.
- ^
Karplus, Robert; Neuman, Maurice (1951-08-15). "The Scattering of Light by Light".
Physical Review
.
83
(4): 776?784.
Bibcode
:
1951PhRv...83..776K
.
doi
:
10.1103/physrev.83.776
.
ISSN
0031-899X
.
- ^
Akhmadaliev, Sh. Zh.; Kezerashvili, G. Ya.; Klimenko, S. G.; Malyshev, V. M.; Maslennikov, A. L.; et al. (1998-11-01). "Delbruck scattering at energies of 140?450 MeV".
Physical Review C
.
58
(5): 2844?2850.
arXiv
:
hep-ex/9806037
.
Bibcode
:
1998PhRvC..58.2844A
.
doi
:
10.1103/physrevc.58.2844
.
ISSN
0556-2813
.
S2CID
118059928
.
- ^
Akhmadaliev, Sh. Zh.; Kezerashvili, G. Ya.; Klimenko, S. G.; Lee, R. N.; Malyshev, V. M.; et al. (2002-07-19). "Experimental Investigation of High-Energy Photon Splitting in Atomic Fields".
Physical Review Letters
.
89
(6): 061802.
arXiv
:
hep-ex/0111084
.
Bibcode
:
2002PhRvL..89f1802A
.
doi
:
10.1103/physrevlett.89.061802
.
ISSN
0031-9007
.
PMID
12190576
.
S2CID
18759344
.
- ^
d’Enterria, David; da Silveira, Gustavo G. (22 August 2013). "Observing Light-by-Light Scattering at the Large Hadron Collider".
Physical Review Letters
.
111
(8). American Physical Society (APS): 080405.
arXiv
:
1305.7142
.
Bibcode
:
2013PhRvL.111h0405D
.
doi
:
10.1103/physrevlett.111.080405
.
ISSN
0031-9007
.
PMID
24010419
.
S2CID
43797550
.
- ^
Michael Schirber (22 Aug 2013). "Synopsis: Spotlight on Photon-Photon Scattering".
Physical Review Letters
.
111
(8): 080405.
arXiv
:
1305.7142
.
Bibcode
:
2013PhRvL.111h0405D
.
doi
:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.080405
.
PMID
24010419
.
S2CID
43797550
.
- ^
"ATLAS observes light scattering off light"
. 2019-03-17.
- ^
Mignani, R. P.; Testa, V.; Gonzalez Caniulef, D.; Taverna, R.; Turolla, R.; Zane, S.; Wu, K. (2016-11-02). "Evidence for vacuum birefringence from the first optical-polarimetry measurement of the isolated neutron star RX J1856.5?3754".
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
.
465
(1): 492?500.
arXiv
:
1610.08323
.
doi
:
10.1093/mnras/stw2798
.
ISSN
0035-8711
.
- ^
"Astronomers Report First Observational Evidence for Vacuum Birefringence | Astronomy | Sci-News.com"
.
Breaking Science News | Sci-News.com
. Retrieved
2021-10-10
.
- ^
Fan, Xing; Kamioka, Shusei; Inada, Toshiaki; Yamazaki, Takayuki; Namba, Toshio; et al. (2017). "The OVAL experiment: a new experiment to measure vacuum magnetic birefringence using high repetition pulsed magnets".
The European Physical Journal D
.
71
(11): 308.
arXiv
:
1705.00495
.
Bibcode
:
2017EPJD...71..308F
.
doi
:
10.1140/epjd/e2017-80290-7
.
ISSN
1434-6060
.
S2CID
119476135
.
- ^
STAR Collaboration (2021-07-27).
"Measurement of e
+
e
?
Momentum and Angular Distributions from Linearly Polarized Photon Collisions"
.
Physical Review Letters
.
127
(5): 052302.
arXiv
:
1910.12400
.
Bibcode
:
2021PhRvL.127e2302A
.
doi
:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.052302
.
PMID
34397228
.
S2CID
236906272
.
- ^
"Collisions of Light Produce Matter/Antimatter from Pure Energy"
.
Brookhaven National Laboratory
. Retrieved
2021-10-10
.
- ^
"Colliding photons were spotted making matter. But are the photons 'real'?"
.
Science News
. 2021-08-09
. Retrieved
2021-09-02
.
- ^
Taverna, Roberto; Turolla, Roberto; Muleri, Fabio; Heyl, Jeremy; Zane, Silvia; Baldini, Luca; Caniulef, Denis Gonzalez; Bachetti, Matteo; Rankin, John; Caiazzo, Ilaria; Di Lalla, Niccolo; Doroshenko, Victor; Errando, Manel; Gau, Ephraim; Kırmızıbayrak, Demet (2022-05-18). "Polarized x-rays from a magnetar".
Science
.
378
(6620): 646?650.
arXiv
:
2205.08898
.
Bibcode
:
2022Sci...378..646T
.
doi
:
10.1126/science.add0080
.
PMID
36356124
.
S2CID
248863030
.
- ^
"X-ray polarisation probes extreme physics"
.
CERN Courier
. 2022-06-30
. Retrieved
2022-08-15
.
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