Abstract
Born-Infeld nonlinear electrodynamics arises naturally as a field theory description of the dynamics of strings and branes. Most analyses of this theory have been limited to studying it as a classical field theory. We quantize this theory on a Euclidean 4-dimensional space-time lattice and determine its properties using Monte Carlo simulations. The electromagnetic field around a static point charge is measured using Lüscher-Weisz methods to overcome the sign problem associated with the introduction of this charge. The field appears identical to that of Maxwell QED. However, the field is enhanced by quantum fluctuations, while still showing the short-distance screening observed in the classical theory. In addition, whereas for the classical theory, the screening increases without bound as the nonlinearity increases, the quantum theory approaches a limiting conformal field theory.
3 More- Received 24 March 2006
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.73.114508
©2006 American Physical Society