Photon traps in nonlinear electrodynamics

TL;DR

This paper shows that nonlinear electrodynamics can create photon traps where light is confined, using optical metrics similar to black hole physics, and demonstrates the universality and physical consistency of this trapping mechanism.

Contribution

It introduces a novel photon trapping mechanism in nonlinear electrodynamics based on optical metrics resembling Kerr-Schild forms, with explicit examples and universality arguments.

Findings

Photon traps can confine light in nonlinear electrodynamics.

The trapping mechanism is compatible with causality and energy conditions.

Explicit examples of photon confinement are constructed.

Abstract

We demonstrate the existence of photon traps within the framework of nonlinear electrodynamics. The trapping mechanism is based on the fact that, for null background fields, the optical metric reduces to the Kerr-Schild form, which plays a prominent role in the context of black hole physics. We then construct explicit examples where photons are confined in a region of spacetime, such that a distant observer cannot interact with them. Finally, we argue that the trapping scheme is quite universal, being entirely compatible with causality, energy conditions, and hyperbolicity.