Thermodynamics of a Photon Gas in Nonlinear Electrodynamics

In this paper we analyze the thermodynamic properties of a photon gas under the influence of a background electromagnetic field in the context of any nonlinear electrodynamics. Neglecting the self-interaction of photons, we obtain a general expression for the grand canonical potential. Particularizing for the case when the background field is uniform, we determine the pressure and the energy density for the photon gas. Although the pressure and the energy density change when compared with the standard case, the relationship between them remains unaltered, namely $\rho=3p$. Finally, we apply the developed formulation to the cases of Heisenberg-Euler and Born-Infeld nonlinear electrodynamics. For the Heisenberg-Euler case, we show that our formalism recover the results obtained with the $2$-loop thermal effective action approach.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figures. A new section about H.E. effective action added in this version. Accepted PL

Constraining Born-Infeld-like Nonlinear Electrodynamics Using Hydrogen's Ionization Energy

In this work, the hydrogen's ionization energy was used to constrain the free parameter $b$ of three Born-Infeld-like electrodynamics namely Born-Infeld itself, Logarithmic electrodynamics and Exponential electrodynamics. An analytical methodology capable of calculating the hydrogen ground state energy level correction for a generic nonlinear electrodynamics was developed. Using the experimental uncertainty in the ground state energy of the hydrogen atom, the bound $b>5.37\times10^{20}K\frac{V}{m}$, where $K=2$, $4\sqrt{2}/3$ and $\sqrt{\pi}$ for the Born-Infeld, Logarithmic and Exponential electrodynamics respectively, was established. In the particular case of Born-Infeld electrodynamics, the constraint found for $b$ was compared with other constraints present in the literature.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, references adde