Considerations on the modified Maxwell electrodynamics in the presence of an electric and magnetic background

TL;DR

This paper explores the properties of modified Maxwell electrodynamics (ModMax) in external electric and magnetic fields, analyzing birefringence, refractive indices, and axion interactions, revealing new effects like charge confinement due to the ModMax parameter.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of ModMax electrodynamics in external fields, including birefringence, dispersion relations, and axion coupling effects, with novel insights into charge confinement.

Findings

Birefringence depends on external fields and ModMax parameter.

Refractive index differences are explicitly calculated.

Interaction energy shows linear confinement component.

Abstract

The properties of the modified Maxwell electrodynamics (ModMax) are investigated in presence of external and uniform electric and magnetic fields. We expand the non-linear theory around an electromagnetic background up to second order in the propagating fields to obtain the permittivity and permeability tensors, dispersion relations, group velocity and refractive indices as functions of external fields. The case with perpendicular background fields is contemplated. The phenomenon of birefringence is discussed and the fundamental role of the ModMax parameter becomes clear. We calculate the difference of the refractive indices in terms of this parameter and the external fields. Finally, we set up a scenario where the axion is present and compute the interaction energy for the coupled axion-ModMax electrodynamics if a magnetic background field is considered. This calculation is carried out in the framework of the gauge-invariant, but path-dependent variables formalism. Our results show that the interaction energy contains a linear component, leading to the confinement of static probe charges where the interference between the ModMax parameter, the axion mass and the axion-photon coupling constant is pointed out.