Propagation of Light in a Hot and Dense Medium

TL;DR

This paper investigates how photons behave in extremely hot, dense cosmic environments, calculating their electromagnetic properties and how these influence the medium's characteristics, especially during the early universe.

Contribution

It provides explicit calculations of photon properties like mass, permittivity, and permeability in hot, dense media, extending understanding of electromagnetic behavior in astrophysical conditions.

Findings

Photons acquire a dynamical mass in the medium.

The electromagnetic properties depend on the medium's statistical parameters.

Modifications influence the system's equation of state.

Abstract

Photons, as quanta of electromagnetic fields, determine the electromagnetic properties of an extremely hot and dense medium. Considering the properties of photons in the interacting medium of charged particles, we explicitly calculate the electromagnetic properties such as the electric permittivity, magnetic permeability, refractive index and the propagation speed of electromagnetic signals in extremely hot and dense background in cosmos. Photons acquire dynamically generated mass in a medium. The screening mass of photon, Debye shielding length and the plasma frequency are calculated as functions of statistical parameters of the medium. We study the properties of the propagating particles in astrophysical systems of distinct statistical conditions. The modifications in the medium properties lead to the equation of state of the system. We mainly calculate all these parameters for extremely high temperatures of the early universe.