Electromagnetic Solitons in Quantum Vacuum

TL;DR

This paper explores how intense electromagnetic fields modify Maxwell's equations through photon-photon scattering, leading to vacuum behaving as a dispersive medium capable of supporting stable electromagnetic solitons.

Contribution

It demonstrates the formation of Kadomtsev-Petviashvily and Korteveg-de-Vries solitons in quantum vacuum due to nonlinear effects and vacuum polarization.

Findings

Vacuum acts as a dispersive medium under intense fields.

Solitons can propagate over large distances without shape change.

Formation of specific solitons in quantum vacuum described.

Abstract

In the limit of extremely intense electromagnetic fields the Maxwell equations are modified due to the photon-photon scattering that makes the vacuum refraction index depend on the field amplitude. In presence of electromagnetic waves with small but finite wavenumbers the vacuum behaves as a dispersive medium. We show that the interplay between the vacuum polarization and the nonlinear effects in the interaction of counter-propagating electromagnetic waves can result in the formation of Kadomtsev-Petviashvily solitons and, in one-dimension configuration, of Korteveg-de-Vries type solitons that can propagate over a large distance without changing their shape.