Quantum fluctuations in the QED vacuum generate non-linear effects, such as
peculiar induced electromagnetic fields. In particular, we show here that an
electrically neutral particle, possessing a magnetic dipole moment, develops an
induced electric dipole-type moment with unusual angular dependence, when
immersed in a quasistatic, constant external electric field. The calculation of
this effect is done in the framework of the Euler-Heisenberg effective QED
Lagrangian, corresponding to the weak field asymptotic expansion of the
effective action to one-loop order. It is argued that the neutron might be a
good candidate to probe this signal of non-linearity in QED.Comment: A misprint has been corrected, and three new references have been
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