Abstract
A recently proposed topological model of the electromagnetic field is described, which is based in the existence of electromagnetic knots, standard solutions of the Maxwell equations, characterized by the linking numbers n and m of the electric and magnetic vectors, the magnetic and electric helicities having the values h mag = 2nћ, h el = 2mћ. The model coincides locally with the classical Maxwell standard theory, but it is globally nonequivalent because its topological properties imply what is called a hidden nonlinearity: the fields span only a nonlinear subset of the solutions of a linear equation. Two consequences of the topological structure are important: the classical expression for the difference between the numbers of right handed and left handed photons is equal to n + m, having thus a topological interpretation, and the electric charge is quantized, the fundamental value being close to 14/3 times de electron charge.
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© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Rañada, A.F. (1995). A Model of Topological Quantization of the Electromagnetic Field. In: Ferrero, M., van der Merwe, A. (eds) Fundamental Problems in Quantum Physics. Fundamental Theories of Physics, vol 73. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8529-3_26
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8529-3_26
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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