Magnetic and electric properties of quantum vacuum

TL;DR

This paper discusses the nonlinear optical properties of the quantum vacuum, predicting phenomena at low energies that could soon be experimentally observable with advancements in field sources.

Contribution

It demonstrates that vacuum acts as a nonlinear optical medium within the standard model and highlights the potential for experimental observation of these effects.

Findings

Vacuum exhibits nonlinear optical behavior.

Predicted effects are currently unobserved experimentally.

Advances in technology may enable future detection.

Abstract

In this report we show that vacuum is a nonlinear optical medium and we discuss what are the optical phenomena that should exist in the framework of the standard model of particle physics. We pay special attention to the low energy limit. The predicted effects for photons of energy smaller than the electron rest mass are of such a level that none has been observed experimentally yet. Progresses in field sources and related techniques seem to indicate that in few years vacuum nonlinear optics will be accessible to human investigation.