Ultrarelativistic sources in nonlinear electrodynamics

Abstract

The fields of rapidly moving sources are studied within nonlinear electrodynamics by boosting the fields of sources at rest. As a consequence of the ultrarelativistic limit the δ-like electromagnetic shock waves are found. The character of the field within the shock depends on the theory of nonlinear electrodynamics considered. In particular, we obtain the field of an ultrarelativistic charge in the Born–Infeld theory.