Magnetic Field Effect in the Fine-Structure Constant and Electron Dynamical Mass

Abstract

We investigate the effect of an applied constant and uniform magnetic field in the fine-structure constant of massive and massless QED. In massive QED, it is shown that a strong magnetic field removes the so called Landau pole and that the fine-structure constant becomes anisotropic having different values along and transverse to the field direction. Contrary to other results in the literature, we find that the anisotropic fine-structure constant always decreases with the field. We also study the effect of the running of the coupling constant with the magnetic field on the electron mass. We find that in both cases of massive and massless QED, the electron dynamical mass always decreases with the magnetic field, what can be interpreted as an inverse magnetic catalysis effect.