The photon magnetic moment problem revisited

Abstract

The photon magnetic moment for radiation propagating in magnetized vacuum is defined as a pseudo-tensor quantity, proportional to the external electromagnetic field tensor. After expanding the eigenvalues of the polarization operator in powers of $k^2$, we obtain approximate dispersion equations (cubic in $k^2$), and analytic solutions for the photon magnetic moment, valid for low momentum and/or large magnetic field. The paramagnetic photon experiences a red shift, with opposite sign than the gravitational one, which differs for parallel and perpendicular polarizations. It is due to the drain of photon transverse momentum and energy by the external field. By defining an effective transverse momentum, the constancy of the speed of light orthogonal to the field is guaranteed. We conclude that the propagation of the photon non-parallel to the magnetic behaves as if there is a quantum compression of vacuum or warp of space-time in an amount depending on its angle with regard to the field.

10 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Extremely high-intensity laser interactions with fundamental quantum systems
• Pair creation by a photon in a strong magnetic field
• Real and virtual photons in an external constant electromagnetic field of most general form
• QED with external field: Hamiltonian treatment for anisotropic medium formed by the Lorentz-non-invariant vacuum
• Is the photon paramagnetic?
• Negative Pressures in QED Vacuum in an External Magnetic Field

Cited by in corpus (3)

• The photon time delay in magnetized vacuum magnetosphere
• Method of canonical transformations in the theory of quantum gases interacting with radiation
• Criticality and dominance of axion physics in highly magnetized vacuum