QED vacuum polarization in a background gravitational field and its effect on the velocity of photons

I. T. Drummond and S. J. Hathrell
Phys. Rev. D 22, 343 – Published 15 July 1980
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Abstract

We calculate in QED the contribution to the photon effective action from one-loop vacuum polarization on a general curved background manifold, and use it to investigate the corrections to the local propagation of photons. We find that the quantum corrections introduce tidal gravitational forces on the photons which in general alter the characteristics of propagation, so that in some cases photons travel at speeds greater than unity. The effect is nondispersive and gauge invariant. We look at a few examples, including a background Schwarzschild geometry, and we argue that although these results are controversial they do not in fact exhibit any obvious inconsistency.

  • Received 5 October 1979

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.22.343

©1980 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

I. T. Drummond and S. J. Hathrell

  • Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, England

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Vol. 22, Iss. 2 — 15 July 1980

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