Colliding waves in a model of nonlinear electrodynamics

TL;DR

This paper explores colliding electromagnetic waves within a nonlinear electrodynamics framework, revealing that null currents inevitably form during wave collisions, extending classical solutions to include nonlinear effects.

Contribution

It introduces a dyonic solution in a conformally flat spacetime for a nonlinear electrodynamics model related to Heisenberg-Euler theory, and analyzes wave collision dynamics.

Findings

Null currents arise during wave collisions in HE-type NED.

Dyonic solutions with constant invariants are constructed.

Collisions extend classical Einstein-Maxwell solutions to nonlinear regimes.

Abstract

Bell-Szekeres (BS) solution for colliding electromagnetic waves in Einstein-Maxwell (EM) theory describes also colliding waves in nonlinear electrodynamics (NED) with an emergent cosmological constant. Our NED model covers the first leading orders to the well-known Heisenberg-Euler (HE) type in a particular gauge of pure magnetic field. Prior to the problem of collision we obtain dyonic solution for the considered NED theory in a conformally flat spacetime which has both electric and magnetic fields with constant invariants. Our sole finding is that null currents inevitably arise in the process of collision of plane waves in the HE type NED theory.