TITLE: ” Electromagnetism Today”
SPEAKER: Dimitri Sorokin (EHU & INFN)
ABSTRACT: In 1862 Maxwell unified the electric, magnetic and light phenomena within the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation. In 1920s Dirac put forward the theory of quantum electrodynamics (QED). In 1933-1934 Born and Infeld constructed the first non-linear generalization of Maxwell’s electrodynamics that turned out to be a remarkable theory in many respects. In 1935 Heisenberg and Euler computed an effective action describing non-linear corrections to Maxwell’s theory due to quantum electron-positron one-loop effects in QED. Since then, these and a variety of other models of non-linear electrodynamics have been extensively studied and used in a wide range of areas of theoretical physics including string theory, gravity, cosmology and condensed matter. In this talk I will overview general properties of Maxwell’s theory and models of non-linear electrodynamics which are distinguished by their symmetries and physical properties, such as electric-magnetic duality and conformal invariance. I will also consider how non-linear electromagnetic effects may manifest themselves in physical phenomena, such as light-by-light scattering and vacuum birefringence. The latter is still to be observed experimentally. Finally, I will flash applications of non-linear electrodynamics to the physics of black holes and in a more formal framework of mathematical physics.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 1st, 2026
TIME: 11:40 am
LOCATION: Theoretical Physics Seminar Room
