Photon propagator for axion electrodynamics

Abstract

The axion modified electrodynamics is usually used as a model for description of possible violation of Lorentz invariance in field theory. The low-energy manifestation of Lorentz violation can hopefully be observed in experiments with the electromagnetic waves. It justifies the importance of study how a small axion addition can modify the wave propagation. Although a constant axion does not contribute to the dispersion relation at all, even a slowly varying axion field destroys the light cone structure. In this paper, we study the wave propagation in the axion modified electrodynamics in the framework of premetric approach. In an addition to the modified dispersion relation, we derive the axion generalization of the photon propagator in Feynman and Landau gauge. Our consideration is free from the usual restriction of a usual restriction to the constant gradient axion field. It is remarkable that the axion modified propagator is hermitian. Consequently the dissipation effects absent even in the phenomenological model considered here.