Axionic and nonaxionic electrodynamics in plane and circular geometry

TL;DR

This paper explores axion electrodynamics in dielectric media, analyzing wave propagation, energy transmission, and potential experimental setups like haloscopes, revealing new effects and enhancements relevant for axion detection.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of axion effects in dielectric geometries, including circular strings and haloscopes, with novel calculations of wave behavior and electromagnetic enhancement.

Findings

Electromagnetic energy transmission coefficient differs from conventional electrodynamics.

Stationary wave patterns can exist in circular dielectric strings with axions.

Surface curvature can significantly enhance electromagnetic signals in haloscope setups.

Abstract

Various aspects of axion electrodynamics in the presence of a homogeneous and isotropic dielectric medium are discussed. 1. We consider first the "antenna-like" property of a planar dielectric surface in axion electrodynamics, elaborating on the treatment given earlier on this topic by Millar {\it et al.} (2017). We calculate the electromagnetic energy transmission coefficient for a dielectric plate, and compare with the conventional expression in ordinary electrodynamics. 2. We consider the situation where the medium exterior to the plate, assumed elastic, is "bent back" and glued together, so that we obtain a circular dielectric string in which the waves can propagate clockwise or counterclockwise. As will be shown, a stationary wave pattern is permitted by the formalism, and we show how the amplitudes for the two counterpropagating waves can be found. 3. As a special case, by omitting axions for a moment, we analyze the Casimir effect for the string, showing its similarity as well as its difference with the Casimir effect of a scalar field for a piecewise uniform string (Brevik and Nielsen 1990). 4. Finally, including axions again we analyze the enhancement of the surface-generated electromagnetic radiation near the center of a cylindrical haloscope, where the interior region is a vacuum and the exterior region a metal. This enhancement is caused by the curvature of the boundary, and is mathematically a consequence of the behavior of the Hankel function of the second kind for small arguments. A simple estimate shows that enhancement may be quite significant, and can therefore be of experimental interest. This proposal is suggested as an alternative to the reflector arrangement in a similar arrangement recently discussed by Liu {\it et al.} (2022).