Abstract
Using Hamiltonian methods, we find six relativistic theories of nonlinear electrodynamics for which plane wave perturbations about a constant uniform background are not birefringent. All have the same conformal strong-field limit to Bialynicki-Birula (BB) electrodynamics, but only four avoid superluminal propagation: Born-Infeld (BI), its non-conformal “extreme” limits (electric and magnetic) and the conformal BB limit. The quadratic dispersion relation of BI is shown to degenerate in the extreme limits to a pair of linear relations, which become identical in the BB limit.
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Acknowledgments
PKT has been partially supported by the STFC consolidated grant ST/T000694/1. JGR acknowledges financial support from grants 2021-SGR-249 (Generalitat de Catalunya) and MINECO PID2019-105614GB-C21.
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ArXiv ePrint: 2311.04278
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Mezincescu, L., Russo, J.G. & Townsend, P.K. Hamiltonian birefringence and Born-Infeld limits. J. High Energ. Phys. 2024, 186 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2024)186
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2024)186