Perturbative Quantization of Modified Maxwell Electrodynamics

Abstract

Modified Maxwell electrodynamics, or ModMax for short, is the unique nonlinear extension of Maxwell's theory that preserves its notable symmetries: conformal invariance and electromagnetic duality. ModMax has been studied extensively at the classical level, however remains largely untouched in a quantum context due to its non-analytic nature. In this thesis, we perform the perturbative quantization of this theory. Using the background field method and dimensional regularization, we obtain novel corrections by calculating the one loop quantum effective action. These corrections vanish in a background with constant field strength, and are not of the form of the classical theory for a general background field. Motivated by the corrections obtained for ModMax, we applied the method developed to quantize ModMax to its two dimensional analogue theory. We similarly obtain the one loop quantum effective action for this theory in a general background by evaluating all one loop Feynman diagrams. In addition, we study the divergence of the separate infinite series of two vertex diagrams.