Birefringence and Dichroism of the QED Vacuum
نویسندگان
چکیده
In the presence of a strong external field, the vacuum reacts, becoming magnetized and polarized. The index of refraction, magnetic permeability, and dielectric constant of the vacuum are straightforward to calculate using quantum electrodynamic one-loop corrections [1–6]. In this paper, we calculate the magnetic permeability and dielectric tensors of an external electric or magnetic field of arbitrary strength in terms of special functions. We combine these general results to calculate the complex-valued index of refraction as a function of field strength.
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