Electric charge is a magnetic dipole when placed in a background magnetic field

It is demonstrated, owing to the nonlinearity of QED, that a static charge placed in a strong magnetic field\ $B$\ is a magnetic dipole (besides remaining an electric monopole, as well). Its magnetic moment grows linearly with $B$ as long as the latter remains smaller than the characteristic value of 1.2\cdot 10^{13}\unit{G} but tends to a constant as $B$ exceeds that value. The force acting on a densely charged object by the dipole magnetic field of a neutron star is estimated

Magnetic response to applied electrostatic field in external magnetic field

We show, within QED and other possible nonlinear theories, that a static charge localized in a finite domain of space becomes a magnetic dipole, if it is placed in an external (constant and homogeneous) magnetic field in the vacuum. The magnetic moment is quadratic in the charge, depends on its size and is parallel to the external field, provided the charge distribution is at least cylindrically symmetric. This magneto-electric effect is a nonlinear response of the magnetized vacuum to an applied electrostatic field. Referring to a simple example of a spherically-symmetric applied field, the nonlinearly induced current and its magnetic field are found explicitly throughout the space, the pattern of lines of force is depicted, both inside and outside the charge, which resembles that of a standard solenoid of classical magnetostatics

Magnetic response from constant backgrounds to Coulomb sources

Magnetically uncharged, magnetic linear response of the vacuum filled with arbitrarily combined constant electric and magnetic fields to an imposed static electric charge is found within general nonlinear electrodynamics. When the electric charge is point-like and external fields are parallel, the response found may be interpreted as a field of two point-like magnetic charges of opposite polarity in one point. Coefficients characterizing the magnetic response and induced currents are specialized to Quantum Electrodynamics, where the nonlinearity is taken as that determined by the Heisenberg-Euler effective Lagrangian.Comment: The part dealing with magnetically charged responses is removed to be a subject of another paper after revisio

Noncommutative magnetic moment, fundamental length and lepton size

Upper bounds on fundamental length are discussed that follow from the fact that a magnetic moment is inherent in a charged particle in noncommutative (NC) electrodynamics. The strongest result thus obtained for the fundamental lenth is still larger than the estimate of electron or muon size achieved following the Brodsky-Drell and Dehlmet approach to lepton compositeness. This means that NC electrodynamics cannot alone explain the whole existing descrepancy between the theoretical and experimental values of the muon magnetic moment. On the contrary, as measurements and calculations are further improved, the fundamental length estimate based on electron data may go down to match its compositeness radius

Noncommutative magnetic moment of charged particles

It has been argued, that in noncommutative field theories sizes of physical objects cannot be taken smaller than an elementary length related to noncommutativity parameters. By gauge-covariantly extending field equations of noncommutative U(1)_*-theory to the presence of external sources, we find electric and magnetic fields produces by an extended charge. We find that such a charge, apart from being an ordinary electric monopole, is also a magnetic dipole. By writing off the existing experimental clearance in the value of the lepton magnetic moments for the present effect, we get the bound on noncommutativity at the level of 10^4 TeV.Comment: 9 pages, revtex; v2: replaced to match the published versio

Classical Noncommutative Electrodynamics with External Source

In a $U(1)_{\star}$-noncommutative (NC) gauge field theory we extend the Seiberg-Witten (SW) map to include the (gauge-invariance-violating) external current and formulate - to the first order in the NC parameter - gauge-covariant classical field equations. We find solutions to these equations in the vacuum and in an external magnetic field, when the 4-current is a static electric charge of a finite size $a$, restricted from below by the elementary length. We impose extra boundary conditions, which we use to rule out all singularities, $1/r$ included, from the solutions. The static charge proves to be a magnetic dipole, with its magnetic moment being inversely proportional to its size $a$. The external magnetic field modifies the long-range Coulomb field and some electromagnetic form-factors. We also analyze the ambiguity in the SW map and show that at least to the order studied here it is equivalent to the ambiguity of adding a homogeneous solution to the current-conservation equation

USA Observation of Spectral and Timing Evolution During the 2000 Outburst of XTE J1550-564

We report on timing and spectral observations of the 2000 outburst of XTE J1550-564 made by the Unconventional Stellar Aspect (USA) Experiment on board the Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite (ARGOS). We observe a low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillation (LFQPO) with a centroid frequency that tends to increase with increasing flux and a fractional rms amplitude which is correlated with the hardness ratio. The evolution of the hardness ratio (4--16 keV/1--4 keV) with time and source flux is examined. The hardness-intensity diagram (HID) shows a cyclical movement in the clockwise direction and possibly indicates the presence of two independent accretion flows. We observe a relationship between the USA 4--16 keV count rate and radio observations and discuss this in the context of previously observed correlations between X-ray, radio, optical and IR data. We examine our results in the context of models invoking two accretion flows: a thin disk and a hot sub-Keplerian flow.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure

USA and RXTE Observations of a Variable Low-Frequency QPO in XTE J1118+480

The USA experiment on ARGOS and RXTE have exensively observed the X-ray transient XTE J1118+480 during its recent outburst in 2000 April--June. We present detailed monitoring of the evolution of a low frequency QPO which drifts from 0.07 Hz to 0.15 Hz during the outburst. We examine possible correlations of the QPO frequency with the flux and spectral characteristics of the source, and compare this QPO to low frequency QPOs observed in other black hole candidates.Comment: Accepted by ApJ Letters, reference added, minor revisions, 6 page