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Induced CP-violation in The Euler-Heisenberg Lagrangian
Induced CP-violation in The Euler-Heisenberg Lagrangian
Induced CP-violation in The Euler-Heisenberg Lagrangian
C (2023) 83:39
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-022-11145-8
Received: 11 November 2022 / Accepted: 16 December 2022 / Published online: 19 January 2023
© The Author(s) 2023
Abstract In this paper, we examine the behaviour of the are many important and interesting examples where these
Euler–Heisenberg effective action in the presence of a novel discrete symmetries (or a combination of them) are violated,
axial coupling among the gauge field and the fermionic e.g. CP violation in the electroweak theory and the strong CP
matter. This axial coupling is responsible to induce a CP- problem in QCD [1], P violating effects in planar QFT [2].
violating term in the extended form of the Euler–Heisenberg As a direct consequence of these fundamental results,
effective action, which is generated naturally through the there is currently interest in examining the validity of the CPT
analysis of the box diagram. However, this anomalous model theorem [3], as well as other combinations of these discrete
is not a viable extension of QED, and we explicitly show that symmetries in phenomenological analysis. As a part of this
the induced CP-violating term in the Euler–Heisenberg effec- endeavour, a scenario where these violation effects could be
tive Lagrangian is obtained only by adding an axial coupling analyzed is within the nonlinear electrodynamics, in which
to the ordinary QED Lagrangian. In order to perform our implications of these nonlinear electromagnetic effects are
analysis, we use a parametrization of the vector and axial being examined by several experiments [4–7].
coupling constants, gv and ga , in terms of a new coupling It is well known that the parity breaking is a rich sce-
β. Interestingly, this parametrization allows us to explore a nario to introduce some important phenomena, even induc-
hidden symmetry under the change of gv ↔ ga in some dia- ing massive modes, regarding the behaviour of the electro-
grams. This symmetry is explicitly observed in the analysis magnetic field in three dimensions [2]. For instance, one
of the box diagram, where we determine the λi coefficients can cite to the quantum Hall effect as an important physi-
ext. = λ1 F +λ2 G +λ3 FG, specially the coefficient λ3
of LEH 2 2 cal application where the topological effects of electromag-
related with the CP-violating term due to the axial coupling. netism are the framework to describe this physical phenom-
As a phenomenological application of the results, we com- ena [8]. Hence, one should expect that the violation of parity
pute the relevant cross section for the light by light scattering would be also interesting in the nonlinear corrections to the
through the extended Euler–Heisenberg effective action. four-dimensional electrodynamics.
Nonlinear electrodynamics has a long history, from the
early proposals of the light-by-light scattering in QED [9–
1 Introduction 14] to the conceptual proposal of light-by-light scattering in
ultraperipheral heavy-ion collisions [15] as well as its exper-
Discrete symmetries play a major role in particle physics, imental verification by ATLAS Collaboration [4,5]. These
C as charge conjugation, P as parity transformation and T nonlinear terms in the electromagnetic field equations can
as time reversal. They eventually led to Pauli’s CPT theo- be understood in terms of quantum effects in the context of
rem, a cornerstone of particle physics [1]. Naturally, there effective field theories [16], resulting in the phenomena of
quantum self-coupling of electromagnetic waves in the vac-
a e-mail: m_ghasemkhani@sbu.ac.ir (corresponding author) uum.
b e-mail: v.rahmanpour@mail.sbu.ac.ir Interestingly, the experimental verification of the light-by-
c e-mail: rodrigo.bufalo@ufla.br light scattering is important since it is now serving as a labo-
d e-mail: mnatsak@theory.sinp.msu.ru ratory to investigate physics beyond the standard model sce-
e e-mail: arsoto1@uc.cl
123
39 Page 2 of 11 Eur. Phys. J. C (2023) 83:39
narios. These models predict new particles that couple pre- phenomenological application of our results, we compute the
dominantly to photons, for instance, the search for the axion- relevant cross section for the light by light scattering through
like particles [17,18]. On the theoretical side, we have seen the extended Euler–Heisenberg effective action. Finally, we
in recent years great interest in the study of further nonlinear present our conclusions and final remarks in Sect. 7.
phenomena involving the physics beyond the standard model
of gauge bosons, exploring new possibilities and the novel
(quantum) behaviour of the electromagnetic waves [19–29]. 2 The model and main features
Our proposal lies within this context, where we wish to con-
sider some generalization of these previous studies and con- In this section, we introduce the model and fix our notation.
sider the implications of CP-violating effects into the photon The parity-violating extension of the QED minimal coupling
dynamics. for the Dirac fermions in the presence of an external gauge
As we know, the CP-violating effects in the four photon field is given by the following action
interactions do not exist in the Standard Model at tree-level.
However, there are some sources of photon interactions via Sψ = d 4 x ψ̄(x) γ μ i∂μ − (gv + ga γ5 )Aμ − m ψ(x),
CP-violation in terms of multi-loop level, arising from the
(2.1)
weak interactions (CP-violating phase of the CKM matrix),
which are negligibly small [28,30]. where the interacting Lagrangian density is
Therefore, for the perturbative generation of the CP-
Lint = −ψ̄γ μ (gv + ga γ 5 )Aμ ψ, (2.2)
violating term in the photon sector, it is necessary that, at
least, one of these discrete symmetries (C or P) is broken. where gv and ga refer to the coupling of the external gauge
To this end, we can add new couplings related with physics field to the vector and axial vector current, respectively. We
beyond the standard model. These couplings are necessar- observe that the axial part of the Lagrangian (2.2) violates the
ily axial and therefore both C and P symmetries in the parity (P) and charge conjugation (C) symmetry, which is odd
photon-matter couplings are automatically broken. Indeed, under P and C. Thus, unlike the usual QED, this model does
only fermionic bilinear covariants such as axial-vector, axial- not respect the parity and charge conjugation symmetry, but
tensor, etc, coupling with the photon can produce the CP- also CP conjugation is satisfied. An obvious consequence of
violating term in the photon sector, see [28,31] for further the C-violation is that the Furry theorem is no more satisfied
details. This means that only anomalous fermionic models in this model. Another important comment is in regard of the
are related with the CP-violating part of the photon sector. anomalous nature of this coupling. Actually, this axial-vector
As discussed in [31], the CP-violating term in the photon coupling originates the very same Adler–Bardeen anomaly
sector is only obtained from physically nonviable anoma- known from the usual vector coupling of the photon [32,33].
lous models, and not from any fundamental field theory. As In order to perform our perturbative analysis, we introduce
a continuation of the discussion presented in [31], we intend a parametrization to consider the parity-conserving (vector)
to explicitly show how these anomalous couplings induce a and the parity-violating (axial-vector) coupling constants in
CP-violating term in the Euler–Heisenberg effective action. a simpler fashion
We start Sect. 2 by establishing the main aspects of the
gv + ga γ 5 = βeαγ ,
5
considered model, with a gauge field that possesses both (2.3)
vector and axial couplings, and its related symmetries. Fur- so that it is readily obtained
thermore, we present some definitions regarding the effective
action formalism. In Sect. 3, we discuss some details involv- gv = β cosh α, ga = β sinh α, β 2 = gv2 − ga2 . (2.4)
ing the (low-energy) Euler–Heisenberg (EH) Lagrangian. In
It is important to remark that in this new notation, the pres-
particular, we focus in developing the four-photon scattering
ence of a new symmetry gv ↔ ga is verified in the n-point
matrix, and how to consider the different parity preserving
function of the gauge field, see comment below.
and parity violating contributions to the amplitude. Our main
In terms of this parametrization, the Lagrangian density
analysis is presented in Sect. 4, where the evaluation of the
(2.1) is rewritten as
lowest-order contribution to the box diagram (with four pho-
Lψ = ψ̄(x) γ μ i∂μ − βeαγ Aμ − m ψ(x).
5
ton legs) is fully considered. It is important to emphasize (2.5)
that, since this amplitude needs to be regularized, we follow
the ’t Hooft–Veltman rule to perform algebraic manipula- As a result, the Feynman rule for the fermion–photon interac-
tion is simply given by −iβγ μ eαγ , having the same structure
5
tions with γ5 within the dimensional regularization method.
as the usual QED with the additional factor eαγ .
5
Moreover, in Sect. 5 we analyze our results related with the λi
coefficients of the (parity-violating) Euler–Heisenberg effec- In regard to the symmetries of the Lagrangian (2.5), we
tive action and discuss some particular issues. In Sect. 6, as a observe that, with massless fermions, it is invariant under the
123
Eur. Phys. J. C (2023) 83:39 Page 3 of 11 39
5 5
following gauge transformation We can straightforwardly notice that β 4 e4αγ and β 4 e2αγ
are completely symmetric and anti-symmetric under the
αγ 5 θ(x) αγ 5 θ(x)
ψ(x) → eiβe ψ(x), ψ̄(x) → ψ̄(x) eiβe , exchange of gv ↔ ga , respectively. Nevertheless, only
5
Aμ (x) → Aμ (x) − ∂μ θ (x). (2.6) terms proportional to β 4 e4αγ will contribute to the extended
Euler–Heisenberg Lagrangian as shown in Sect. 4; although
Moreover, we notice that in the case of ga → 0 and gv → 0, finite, the remaining parts contribute to different effective
the usual vector gauge transformation, UV (1), and the axial action other than the Euler–Heisenberg one. Therefore, this
gauge transformation, U A (1), are restored, respectively.1 result allows us to undercover that the effective Lagrangian
The one-loop effective action for the gauge field Aμ is is symmetric under gv ↔ ga .
defined as follows
[A] = −iTr ln i ∂/ − βeαγ A
5
/−m , (2.7)
3 Construction of the extended Euler–Heisenberg
Lagrangian
or equivalently in a convenient form for the perturbative anal-
ysis
In order to construct the one-loop effective action for the
∞ description of the light by light scattering, some comments
[A] = d 4 x1 . . . d 4 xn are in order. There are strong constraints such as gauge and
n=1 Lorentz invariance that should be considered in this construc-
μ1 ...μn
× (x1 , . . . , xn ) Aμ1 (x1 ) . . . Aμn (xn ). tion. Accordingly, a gauge invariant expression to describe
(2.8) the four-photon interaction can be built from the field strength
tensor Fμν with proper contractions, leading to a Lorentz
Here, μ1 ...μn is the n-point function of the gauge field which scalar Lagrangian. Moreover, since our interaction term in
is defined as (2.2) violates parity, we shall have an additional term in the
n n extended EH Lagrangian, which is absent in its usual version.
μ1 ...μn βn d 4 pi
(x1 , . . . , xn ) = − δ pi Based on these comments, there are three kinds of terms
n (2π )4 with mass dimension 8 that respect both gauge and Lorentz
i=1 i=1
n
i pi .xi
invariance, as well as the parity violation, as below
μ1 ...μn
×e i=1 ( p1 , . . . , pn ) ,
(2.9) F 2 , G 2 , FG (3.1)
where the overall minus sign comes from the fermionic loop with the definitions
and μ1 ...μn indicates the amplitude of a graph with n exter-
nal photon legs. F = Fμν F μν = −2(E2 − B2 ),
As a final remark, we can realize from Eq. (2.9) that
μ1 ...μn is proportional to the following power of the new
G = G μν F μν = 4(E.B), (3.2)
n
(parametrized) coupling constant β n = (gv2 − ga2 ) 2 . How-
and G μν = 21 εμνρσ F ρσ is the dual of the field strength tensor
ever, the dependence of μ1 ...μn on the coupling constants
Fμν = ∂μ Aν − ∂ν Aμ . Taking into account these considera-
gv and ga does not arise only from β n since we have a factor
tions, the full structure of the extended EH Lagrangian can
eαγ for each vertex (included in μ1 ...μn ) that depends on
5
be expressed as the following
gv and ga . As we shall see in Sect. 4, in the case of interest
5 5
n = 4, we have terms proportional to β 4 e4αγ and β 4 e2αγ EH
Lext = λ1 F 2 + λ2 G 2 + λ3 FG, (3.3)
within Eq. (2.9) as
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39 Page 4 of 11 Eur. Phys. J. C (2023) 83:39
μνρσ
(2,1) = 8λ2 ( p1 . p3 )( p4 . p2 )gμν gρσ − 2( p1 . p3 )gμν p4σ p2ρ
(CP-violating) and hence the full Lagrangian (3.3) is not CP-
invariant.
+ p1ν p3μ p4σ p2ρ + ( p1 . p3 )gνρ p4σ p2μ
We mention that the Standard Model contains sources of
+ ( p4 . p2 ) p1ν p3ρ gμσ + ( p3 . p4 ) p1ν p2μ gρσ
photon interactions via CP violation at the higher multi-loop
+ ( p1 . p3 ) p4ν p2ρ gμσ − p1ν p3ρ p4σ p2μ
level from the weak interactions (from the phase in the CKM
matrix), or from the QCD θ -term, and in both cases they are − ( p1 . p3 )( p4 . p2 )gμσ gνρ − ( p1 . p3 ) p4ν p2μ gρσ
negligibly small [28,30]. Given the suppression of the stan- − ( p3 . p4 ) p1ν p2ρ gμσ . (3.8)
dard model contribution, we shall analyze the effects of this
CP-odd new coupling, λ3 , in the photon-photon scattering in After performing the complete permutations in (3.6) and sim-
Sect. 6. plifying it, we find that the complete parity-conserving ampli-
The values of the coupling constants λi are determined tude reads
from the one-loop quantum corrections, including the effects
μνρσ μ ρ ρ μ
of the generalized interaction (2.2). To achieve this goal, we = 32(λ1 − λ2 ) p1σ p3 p3 p4ν + p1σ p3 p4 p4ν
P.C
determine the total amplitude of the four-photon scattering as ρ μ ρ μ ρ μ
a function of the three coupling constants λ1 , λ2 and λ3 : first, − p1ν p1 p3σ p4 + p1 p3σ p4 p4ν − p1ν p1 p3 p4σ
μ ρ ρ μ
we will establish the tensor structure of the total amplitude of + p1ν p3 p3 p4σ − 32λ2 p1 p1σ p3 p4ν
the process γ γ → γ γ through the Lagrangian (3.3); second, ρ μ ρ μ
we will evaluate the low-energy limit ( p 2 m 2 ) of the + p1ν p1σ p3 p4 − p1 p3 p3σ p4ν
Feynman amplitudes related with the process γ γ → γ γ ρ μ ρ μ
− p1ν p3 p3σ p4 − p1 p3 p4ν p4σ − p1ν p3 p4 p4σ
ρ μ
by considering the interaction term (2.2). At last, we will
(3.9)
compare and match the obtained results in both methods,
allowing us to fix the values of the coupling constants λi .
μνρσ μνρσ μνρσ
Let us decompose the full effective Lagrangian (3.3) into where ≡ (1) + (2) . It is worth men-
EH 3 P.C
three pieces Lext = i=1 Li , where we have defined tioning that in Eq. (3.9) only terms without the metric are
present, since the rest of the terms cancelled by applying the
L1 = λ1 F 2 , L2 = λ2 G 2 , L3 = λ3 FG. (3.4) energy–momentum conservation.
Similarly, we can express the contribution of the parity-
The contribution of the parity-conserving (P.C.) parts, L1 = violating (P.V) term, L3 = λ3 FG, for the amplitude as the
λ1 F 2 and L2 = λ2 G 2 , into the amplitude for four-photon following
scattering is given by [22] μνρσ
M3 = (3) ( p1 , p2 , p3 , p4 )ε1μ ε3ν ε4ρ ε2σ , (3.10)
μνρσ μνρσ
M1 + M2 = (1) + (2) ( p1 , p2 , p3 , p4 ) with the definition
×ε1μ ε3ν ε4ρ ε2σ . (3.5)
24
μνρσ μνρσ μνρσ
where εi ≡ ε( pi ) are the polarization vectors corresponding = (3) = (3,i) ( p1 , p2 , p3 , p4 ),
P.V
to the pi photon four-momenta. In addition, in order to obtain i=1
the correct amplitude, we shall sum over all simultaneous (3.11)
permutations of ( p1 , p2 , p3 , p4 ) and (μ, σ, ν, ρ). As a matter
of fact, this corresponds to 24 permutations of the external accounting for all possible permutation of the external photon
photon legs which are included in the amplitudes as legs. The first contribution is found as
μνρσ μ
24 (3,1) = 8λ3 p1ν p3 − g μν ( p1 . p3 ) p2 p4 ρσ , (3.12)
μνρσ μνρσ
(1) = (1,i) ( p1 , p2 , p3 , p4 ),
i=1 where we have defined the condensed notation pi p j ρσ ≡
μνρσ
24
μνρσ
piξ p jη ξ ηρσ .
(2) = (2,i) ( p1 , p2 , p3 , p4 ), (3.6) Inserting (3.12) back into (3.11) and summing over all
i=1 remaining permutations, we get
where the first contributions are straightforwardly obtained
μνρσ μ μ
[22] = 32λ3 p1σ p3 νp3 p4 ρ + p1σ p4 νp3 p4 ρ
P.V
ρ ρ μ
− p1 p4σ μνp1 p3 + p1 p4 νp1 p3 σ
μνρσ
(1,1) = 4λ1 − ( p1 . p3 )( p2 . p4 )gμν gρσ ρ μ
+ p1 p4 νp3 p4 σ − p1ν p3σ μp1 p4 ρ
μ μ
+ 2( p1 . p3 )gμν p4σ p2ρ − p1ν p3μ p4σ p2ρ , (3.7) + p1ν p3 p1 p4 ρσ − p1ν p3 p3 p4 ρσ
123
Eur. Phys. J. C (2023) 83:39 Page 5 of 11 39
ρ
+ p3σ p4ν μp1 p4 ρ + p3 p4σ μνp1 p3 To compute the expression (4.1), first we apply the Feyn-
man parametrization which yields
ρ ρ
+ p3 p4ν μp1 p3 σ + p3 p4ν μp1 p4 σ . (3.13)
μνρσ d ω N μνρσ
i(1) = −β (4) d X
4
, (4.3)
(2π )ω (2 − )4
Therefore, the total amplitude for the light by light scattering
can be cast as herewe haveused = k −u with u = x p1 +(y + z) p3 + yp4
1 1−x 1−x−y
and d X ≡ 0 d x 0 dy 0 dz. Moreover, by means
μνρσ
Mtotal = ε1μ ε3ν ε4ρ ε2σ of simplicity of notation, we have introduced
P.C
N μνρσ = tr (/ + u/ 1 + m)γ μ eαγ (/ + u/ + m)γ ν eαγ
5 5
μνρσ
+ ε1μ ε3ν ε4ρ ε2σ . (3.14)
P.V
× (/ + u/ 3 + m)γ ρ eαγ (/ + u/ 34 + m)γ σ eαγ ,
5 5
In this section, we study the lowest order contribution to By means of definiteness, an important remark about the
the four-photon interaction by performing the one-loop anal- evaluation of (4.3) is in order because the integral should be
ysis through the underlying theory at the low-energy limit regularized (it is logarithmically divergent). Since we have
( p 2 m 2 ). First, we consider the n = 4 term of the per- chosen to use the dimensional regularization and the ampli-
turbative series (2.8), corresponding to the so-called box dia- tude involves a γ5 matrix, it is necessary to use the ’t Hooft–
gram, depicted in Fig. 1. Using the aforementioned Feynman Veltman rule in order to correctly define the γ5 within the
rules, the amplitude of this diagram is given by dimensional regularization [35,36].
5
(k/1 + m)γ μ eαγ (k/ + m)γ ν eαγ (k/3 + m)γ ρ eαγ (k/34 + m)γ σ eαγ
5 5 5
μνρσ d 4k
i(1) = −β 4 tr , (4.1)
(2π )4 (k12 − m 2 )(k 2 − m 2 )(k32 − m 2 )(k34
2 − m2)
μ ρ
where ( p1 , p2σ , p3ν , p4 ) are the momenta of the external The ’t Hooft–Veltman method consists in the splitting of
legs, satisfying the energy–momentum conservation p1 = the ω dimensional spacetime into two parts: a 4-dimensional
p2 + p3 + p4 . Moreover, we have introduced the condensed (physical)
a (ω − 4)-dimensional
and subspace
notation ki ≡ k − pi and ki j ≡ k − pi − p j .
dω → dω Q = d 4 d ω−4 L . (4.6)
As we have discussed above, in order to find the total
amplitude for the 4-point function, we have to consider all In this case, the internal momentum is expressed as below
of 24 permutations namely,
24
Q = + L = γ 0 0 + · · · + γ 3 3
μνρσ
μνρσ
total
= (i) . (4.2) + γ 4 L 4 + · · · + γ ω−1 L ω−1 (4.7)
i=1
where we have denoted the internal momentum as L for the
remaining ω − 4 components.
Within the ’t Hooft–Veltman rule, the γ5 algebra is written
as
γ5 , γ μ = 0, μ = 0, 1, 2, 3 (4.8)
μ
γ5 , γ = 0, μ = 4, . . . , ω − 1, (4.9)
and all other familiar rules are still valid, including the algebra
μ ν
Fig. 1 The box diagram contributing to A A A A γ , γ = 2g μν , μ, ν = 0, 1, . . . , ω − 1, (4.10)
123
39 Page 6 of 11 Eur. Phys. J. C (2023) 83:39
with the metric tensor components gμν = diag (+1, −1, . . . , Now, we can show how the divergent contributions in
−1). We observe that all the external momenta pi remain 4- (4.17) are cancelled independently. As mentioned above, we
dimensional, this implies that L 2 = −L 2 and L + L = 0. have the following logarithmically divergent terms
Consequently, applying the ’t Hooft–Veltman rule in (4.4)
i.e. → + L, we find
d 4 d ω−4 L 1
tr e4αγ /γ μ /γ ν /γ ρ /γ σ
5
(2π ) (2π )
4 ω−4 ( − L − )
2 2 4
N μνρσ = tr ( Q
/ + u/ 1 + m)γ μ eαγ ( Q
/ + u/ + m)γ ν eαγ
5 5
(4.18)
d 4 d ω−4 L 1
/γ μL
/γ ν L
/γ ρ L
/γ σ ,
/ + u/ 3 + m)γ ρ eαγ ( Q
/ + u/ 34 + m)γ σ eαγ .
5 5
× (Q tr L
(2π )4 (2π )ω−4 (2 − L 2 − ) 4
(4.11) (4.19)
We then observe the presence of two possibly divergent we notice that both terms have similar tensor structure
terms, those proportional to 4 and L 4 . We shall focus our (due to the trace operation). Thus, the tensor and regu-
discussion on these terms, showing how they cancel and thus larized structure is nearly common for the above 4 and
imply in the finiteness of the quantum effective action. L 4 terms and we can use it to apply our considerations.
The numerator (4.11) can be split into two parts according Hence, we can evaluate straightforwardly the momentum
to the power of m as below integration with help of (A.1) and use of the identity
Q4
Q δ Q τ Q ξ Q η → ω(ω+2) gδτ gξ η + gδξ gτ η + gδη gτ ξ , and
μνρσ μνρσ
N μνρσ = N1 + N2 , (4.12) show that both contributions are proportional to 2 , where
= 4 − ω → 0+ , and also to the tensor structure
μνρσ μνρσ
where, N1 and N2 include the odd and even powers
of m, respectively. Furthermore, we can write these terms in μνρσ = 1 gδτ gξ η + gδξ gτ η + gδη gτ ξ
N
regard to the power of m as the following 4
× Tr e4αγ γ δ γ μ γ τ γ ν γ ξ γ ρ γ η γ σ ,
5
μνρσ
A first observation is that since every term in N1 includes while the L contribution in Eq. (4.19) is obtained from (4.20)
a trace of an odd number of gamma matrices, we conclude as α = 0. Moreover, we notice that the terms including
μνρσ μνρσ
that N1 = 0. Thus, we now insert N2 into (4.3) and cosh(4α) and sinh(4α) refer to the parity-preserving and
arrange it according to the power of the internal momentum parity-violating contributions, respectively. However, in the
as the following usual QED, there is only terms with α → 0, so that β → gv .
Finally, making use of this result and by taking into
μνρσ dω Q account all the 24 (tensor and momentum) permutations of
i(1,a) = − β 4 (4) dX
(2π)ω (4.17), and also performing the relevant traces through Feyn-
μνρσ μνρσ μνρσ
N(m 4) + N(m 2 u 2 ) + N(u 4 ) Calc program, in both parity-preserving and parity-violating
× , (4.15)
(2 − L 2 − )4 pieces, we find that
μνρσ dω Q
i(1,b) = − β 4 (4) d X
(2π)ω 24
μνρσ
μνρσ μνρσ μνρσ
N(2 u 2 ) + N(2 m 2 ) + N(L μνρσ μνρσ
2 u 2 ) + N(L 2 m 2 ) + N(L 2 2 )
μνρσ
total = (i,c) = 0, (4.21)
div. div.
× , i=1
(2 − L 2 − )4
(4.16) which is in accordance to the result of the usual QED. Thus,
μνρσ
N() μνρσ
+ N(L)
μνρσ dω Q we arrive at the same finite result for the total amplitude as
i(1,c) = − β 4 (4) dX . (4.17)
(2π)ω (2 − L 2 − )4 in Eq. (4.2).
After showing the UV-finiteness of the total amplitude,
μνρσ
The explicit form of these terms in N2 can be found in the we are now ready to obtain the generalized expression for the
Appendix A, Eqs. (A.1)–(A.10), and also the L dependent Euler–Heisenberg effective Lagrangian. Thus, by making use
terms in N are similar to those of . of the standard Feynman integrals, we arrive at the following
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Eur. Phys. J. C (2023) 83:39 Page 7 of 11 39
expressions for the finite part (P.C) and parity-violating (P.V) contributions, we have
μνρσ β4 1 μνρσ μνρσ μνρσ
0
(1,a) =− dX N (m )
+ N (m u )
+ N(u )
, μνρσ ξ (gv4 + ga4 + 6gv2 ga2 )
16π 2 2 4 2 2 4
(1,a) 4 =− 2 4
(4.22) u P.C
16π m
× Tr γ δ γ μ γ τ γ ν γ ξ γ ρ γ η γ σ
μνρσ β4 1 μνρσ μνρσ
(1,b) = dX N(u 2 ) + N
16π 2 (m 2 )
× d X u 1δ u τ u 3ξ u 34η , (4.29)
+Nμνρσ +Nμνρσ +N μνρσ , (4.23)
(u 2 ) (m 2 ) (0) 0 4(gv3 ga + gv ga3 )
μνρσ ξ
(1,a) 4 =− 2 4
the quantities with tilde and hat in (4.23) indicate the inte- u P.V
16π m
grated expressions of (4.16) over the internal momenta and × Tr γ 5 γ δ γ μ γ τ γ ν γ ξ γ ρ γ η γ σ
L.
Assuming on-shell photons, pi2 = 0, the expression in × d X u 1δ u τ u 3ξ u 34η . (4.30)
(4.5) changes to
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39 Page 8 of 11 Eur. Phys. J. C (2023) 83:39
and also to the total parity-violating contribution the values of the coupling constants are different from those
obtained in the Ref. [24], that do not display such a symmetric
ξ 0 i(gv3 ga + gv ga3 ) σ μ νp3 p4 ρ
behaviour.
μνρσ 4 =− p1 p3
u P.V 24π 2 m 4 To clarify this issue, let us consider two cases in the inter-
μ ρ
+ p1σ p4 νp3 p4 ρ − p1 p4σ μνp1 p3 acting Lagrangian (2.2), or equivalently in the effective cou-
ρ μ ρ μ
+ p1 p4 νp1 p3 σ + p1 p4 νp3 p4 σ plings (5.4):
μ
− p1ν p3σ μp1 p4 ρ + p1ν p3 p1 p4 ρσ
μ
gv4 7gv4
− p1ν p3 p3 p4 ρσ + p3σ p4ν μp1 p4 ρ 1 =
λEH , λ EH
2 = , λ3 = 0, (5.5)
1440π 2 m 4 5760π 2 m 4
ρ ρ
+ p3 p4σ μνp1 p3 + p3 p4ν μp1 p3 σ
that correspond to the two limiting cases: ga = 0, gv = 0
ρ
+ p3 p4ν μp1 p4 σ . (4.33) and gv = 0, ga = 0.
Both cases, in contrast to [24], lead to the same result for
One should note that in Eq. (4.33) the coefficient i arises from the three effective coupling constants as the following which
the trace of γ 5 with the gamma matrices. Now that we have coincides exactly with effective couplings of an ordinary
evaluated the one-loop effective action for the generalized parity-conserving Euler–Heisenberg Lagrangian [16,22].
parity-violating coupling, we are in a position to determine Therefore, we realize that considering the pure-vector
the effective couplings λi ’s by comparing these results to interaction (even-parity) or the pure-axial interaction (odd-
those from Sect. 3. parity) of the gauge field with fermionic matter leads to an
identical effective action, which is parity-preserving. In the
other words, the interaction term with a distinct behaviour
5 Determination of the effective couplings (λ1 , λ2 , λ3 ) under parity produces a parity-conserving effective action.
While the case gv = 0, ga = 0 yields us a generalized
At this stage, we can determine the value of three coupling effective Euler–Heisenberg action with parity-conserving
constants appearing in the effective Lagrangian (3.3) and parity-violating terms (5.4).
E.H
As the last case, we consider the V + A and V − A inter-
Lext. = λ1 F 2 + λ2 G 2 + λ3 FG. (5.1) actions, which corresponds to ga = ±gv , respectively,
This can be achieved by matching the results found in LV+A = −gv ψ̄γ μ (1 + γ 5 )Aμ ψ,
Eqs. (3.9) and (4.32) for the parity-preserving piece LV-A = −gv ψ̄γ μ (1 − γ 5 )Aμ ψ, (5.6)
123
Eur. Phys. J. C (2023) 83:39 Page 9 of 11 39
terms, we have already discussed that these standard model’s We observe that these limiting cases yield us the same result,
contribution are negligible, and shall not be considered here. which coincides exactly with the standard differential cross
Therefore, to start the analysis of the differential cross section for the photon-photon scattering in the usual QED
section for the light by light scattering, we first consider the [12,37], as expected.
tensorial structure of the total amplitude in (3.14) as the fol-
lowing
μνρσ μνρσ μνρσ 7 Conclusion
= + . (6.1)
P.C P.V
As a first check, we verify the Ward identity by inserting In this paper, we have perturbatively examined the Euler–
Eqs. (3.9) and (3.13) back into (6.1), and then contracting Heisenberg effective action in the presence of an axial cou-
the resulting expression with the external momenta, which pling of the gauge field with the fermionic matter (that might
give the following be ascribed to new physics, for instance, dark matter parti-
cles [25]). These novel coupling effects are responsible for
μνρσ μνρσ μνρσ μνρσ
p1μ = p2σ = p3ν = p4ρ = 0. generating a CP-violating term FG in the effective action.
(6.2) We emphasize that the axial anomalous term added is not
an acceptable extension of QED and thus the induced CP-
This result is expected since the effective Lagrangian (5.1) violating term in the usual Euler–Heisenberg model as an
is constructed from the gauge invariant quantities F and G. effective Lagrangian can be obtained only from this anoma-
The unpolarized differential cross section is proportional to lous theory, and not from any fundamental field theory. One
the average of the absolute square of the total amplitude as important aspect of our analysis is in regard of the regular-
1
4 |M|2 that includes the following sum over the photon ization to the Feynman amplitude. Since the amplitude of the
polarization states process γ γ → γ γ is divergent, and we have the presence
2 of an axial coupling in terms of the γ5 matrix, we presented
εμ∗ ( p, λ)εν ( p, λ) = −gμν + Lμν , (6.3) a detailed analysis of the algebraic manipulations using the
λ=1 ’t Hooft–Veltman rule. We have shown the presence of two
where Lμν is a longitudinal part which contraction with possibly divergent terms, and discussed how their contribu-
μνρσ vanishes, due to the Ward identity (6.2). In the center tions are cancelled when 24 permutations in the box diagram
of mass frame (CM), we define ω as the photon energy and are considered.
θ as the departure angle of the final state photons. Hence, the Another point is related to a hidden symmetry of the
unpolarized differential cross section is given by vector and axial couplings, which was observed in terms
dσ of a proper parametrization. The piece of the 4-point func-
= 278ga8 + 3561ga6 gv2 + 11014ga4 gv4 tion contributing to the extended Euler–Heisenberg effective
d C M
ω6 [7 + cos(2θ )]2 Lagrangian is written in terms of the parametrized couplings
5
+3561ga2 gv6 + 278gv8 . β 4 e4αγ = (gv4 + ga4 + 6gv2 ga2 ) + 4(gv3 ga + gv ga3 )γ 5 , which
m8 66355200π 6 allows us to verify that it is symmetric under the change of
(6.4) gv ↔ ga . Furthermore, this observation also allowed us to
It is worth noticing that the presence of the CP-violating term conclude that the usual Euler–Heisenberg effective action,
λ3 FG does not change the angular distribution of the differ- which is parity-preserving, can be generated whether by the
ential cross section of the QED description. Rather, its con- pure-vector interaction (even-parity) or the pure-axial inter-
tribution is only as a numerical factor; therefore, an enhance- action (odd-parity), see Eq. (5.5). It is important to remark
ment in regard of the usual value measured in the related cross that our results are in contrast to those of Ref. [24]. But we
section could be a signal of the presence of parity violation believe that, although following different approaches, a cru-
in QED. cial point showing the correctness of our analysis is the pres-
Here, we mention that the obtained result (6.4) is also ence of the aforementioned symmetry in the λi coefficients
symmetric under the exchange of ga ↔ gv . Moreover, in the of the extended Euler–Heisenberg effective Lagrangian, see
pure-vector and pure-axial coupling limits, we arrive at Eq. (5.4). Actually, this hidden symmetry of the box graph
under gv ↔ ga is absent in the results of Ref. [24].
dσ dσ
lim = lim We proceeded with a phenomenological application of the
ga →0 d C M gv →0 d C M
6 generalized effective action, considering the effects of the
139gv8 ω CP-violating term (as a possible new physics phenomenon),
= 6
[7 + cos(2θ )]2 .
33177600π m8 to compute the differential cross section related to the photon-
(6.5) photon scattering. As a result, we found that the angular dis-
123
39 Page 10 of 11 Eur. Phys. J. C (2023) 83:39
× Tr e4αγ γ δ γ μ γ τ γ ν γ ξ γ ρ γ η γ σ ,
5
tribution of the differential cross section in the presence of (A.2)
CP-violating term does not modify, except some changes in
μνρσ
= m 2 δ τ Tr e2αγ γ δ γ μ γ τ γ ν γ ρ γ σ
5
the numerical coefficients. Hence, the effects of the parity- N(m 2 2 )
violating term could be measured in terms of the enhanced
+ Tr γ δ γ μ γ ν γ τ γ ρ γ σ
value of the cross section. It is worth to mention that the
+ Tr e2αγ γ δ γ μ γ ν γ ρ γ τ γ σ
5
interference of the standard model CP-violating contribution
(from the phase in the CKM matrix or from the θ -term in
+ Tr e−2αγ γ μ γ δ γ ν γ τ γ ρ γ σ
5
QCD), with the one in the present analysis, are by far smaller
[28,30] and thus not considered. + Tr γ μ γ δ γ ν γ ρ γ τ γ σ
+ Tr e2αγ γ μ γ ν γ δ γ ρ γ τ γ σ ,
5
(A.3)
Acknowledgements We would like to express our especial thanks to
M. Chaichian for his valuable comments and many illuminating dis-
μνρσ
cussions. Also, we thank M.M. Sheikh-Jabbari and M. Mohammadi N(L 4 ) = L δ L τ L ξ L η Tr γ δ γ μ γ τ γ ν γ ξ γ ρ γ η γ σ , (A.4)
for their insightful comments and suggestions. R.B. acknowledges par-
μνρσ
tial support from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e N(m 2 L 2 ) = m 2 L δ L τ Tr γ δ γ μ γ τ γ ν γ ρ γ σ
Tecnológico (CNPq Projects no. 305427/2019-9 and no. 421886/2018-
8) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais + Tr γ δ γ μ γ ν γ τ γ ρ γ σ
+ Tr γ δ γ μ γ ν γ ρ γ τ γ σ
(FAPEMIG Project no. APQ-01142-17).
Data Availability Statement This manuscript has no associated data or + Tr γ μ γ δ γ ν γ τ γ ρ γ σ + Tr γ μ γ δ γ ν γ ρ γ τ γ σ
the data will not be deposited. [Authors’ comment: This is a theoretical
study and no experimental data has been listed.] + Tr γ μ γ ν γ δ γ ρ γ τ γ σ , (A.5)
μνρσ
= δ τ L ξ L η Tr e2αγ γ δ γ μ γ ξ γ ν γ η γ ρ γ τ γ σ
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attri- 5
N(L 2 2 )
bution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation,
distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you
+ Tr e2αγ γ ξ γ μ γ η γ ν γ δ γ ρ γ τ γ σ
5
give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, pro-
+ Tr e2αγ γ δ γ μ γ τ γ ν γ ξ γ ρ γ η γ σ
vide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes 5
were made. The images or other third party material in this article
+ Tr e−2αγ γ ξ γ μ γ δ γ ν γ τ γ ρ γ η γ σ
5
are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indi-
cated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not
included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended + Tr γ δ γ μ γ ξ γ ν γ τ γ ρ γ η γ σ
use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permit-
ted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copy- + Tr γ ξ γ μ γ δ γ ν γ η γ ρ γ τ γ σ , (A.6)
right holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecomm
μνρσ
= L ξ L η u 1δ u 34τ Tr e2αγ γ δ γ μ γ ξ γ ν γ η γ ρ γ τ γ σ
5
ons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. N(L 2 u 2 )
Funded by SCOAP3 . SCOAP3 supports the goals of the International
+ u 3δ u 34τ Tr e2αγ γ ξ γ μ γ η γ ν γ δ γ ρ γ τ γ σ
5
Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development.
+ u 1δ u τ Tr e2αγ γ δ γ μ γ τ γ ν γ ξ γ ρ γ η γ σ
5
μνρσ
+ u δ u 3τ Tr e−2αγ γ ξ γ μ γ δ γ ν γ τ γ ρ γ η γ σ
5
Appendix A: The explicit form of N2
+ u 1δ u 3τ Tr γ δ γ μ γ ξ γ ν γ τ γ ρ γ η γ σ
Here, we present the explicit form of the six terms appeared
in the relation (4.14) + u δ u 34τ Tr γ ξ γ μ γ δ γ ν γ η γ ρ γ τ γ σ , (A.7)
μνρσ
= m 2 u 1δ u τ Tr e2αγ γ δ γ μ γ τ γ ν γ ρ γ σ
5
μνρσ μνρσ μνρσ μνρσ μνρσ N(m 2 u 2 )
N2 = N(4 ) + N(2 u 2 ) + N(u 4 ) + N(m 2 2 )
μνρσ μνρσ μνρσ + u 3τ Tr γ δ γ μ γ ν γ τ γ ρ γ σ
+ N(m 2 u 2 ) + N(m 4 ) + N(L 4 )
+ u 34τ Tr e2αγ γ δ γ μ γ ν γ ρ γ τ γ σ
5
μνρσ μνρσ μνρσ
+ N(L 2 u 2 ) + N(L 2 2 ) + N(m 2 L 2 ) ,
+ u δ u 3τ Tr e−2αγ γ μ γ δ γ ν γ τ γ ρ γ σ
5
as the following
+ u δ u 34τ Tr γ μ γ δ γ ν γ ρ γ τ γ σ
+ u 3δ u 34τ Tr e2αγ γ μ γ ν γ δ γ ρ γ τ γ σ ,
5
μνρσ (A.8)
= δ τ ξ η Tr e4αγ γ δ γ μ γ τ γ ν γ ξ γ ρ γ η γ σ ,
5
N(4 )
μνρσ 4αγ 5 δ μ τ ν ξ ρ η σ
(A.1) N(u 4 ) = u 1δ u τ u 3ξ u 34η Tr e γ γ γ γ γ γ γ γ ,
μνρσ (A.9)
N(2 u 2 ) = u 3ξ u 34η δ τ + u τ u 34η δ ξ + δ η u τ u 3ξ
μνρσ
N(m 4 ) = m Tr γ μ γ ν γ ρ γ σ .
4
(A.10)
+ τ ξ u 1δ u 34η + τ η u 1δ u 3ξ + ξ η u 1δ u τ
123
Eur. Phys. J. C (2023) 83:39 Page 11 of 11 39
123