Selym Villalba Chavez

The Magnetic Moment of the Photon

We consider the effect of the photon radiative correction on the
vacuum energy in a superstrong magnetic field. A (magnetic field 
independent) photon anomalous magnetic  moment is derived, and its  
connection with  the classical angular momentum of the radiation field 
is established. 
The magnetic moment turns out to be perpendicular to the photon's 
propagation direction, and does depend on its transverse momentum 
component (with regard the external field). Its existence suggests 
that the electromagnetic radiation is a source of magnetization to the 
whole vacuum and thus its electron-positron zero-point energy  is 
slightly modified. The corresponding contribution to the vacuum 
magnetization density is determined for both the low and high energy 
limits of the vacuum polarization tensor (at the lowest Landau 
level). These contributions depend  non-linearly on the external field.