Localized E · B structures in propagating toroidal electromagnetic pulses

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Abstract
Toroidal electromagnetic pulses are non-transverse free-space wave packets with coupled spatial, temporal, and polarization structure. We show that balanced superpositions of transverse-electric (TE) and transverse-magnetic (TM) toroidal pulses generate compact, propagating regions of nonzero E · B in the real physical fields, even though each constituent pulse has E · B = 0. The sign and symmetry of this localized E · B distribution are controlled by the intermodal phase between the TE and TM components. Since E · B enters as the source term in axion electrodynamics, we also calculate the corresponding classical pseudoscalar response in the weak-coupling, negligible-backreaction limit. The results identify toroidal pulses as an analytically tractable platform for shaping propagating electromagnetic pseudoscalar structures; they do not constitute a prediction of axion-particle generation or photon–axion conversion.
Funding Information
  • Ministry of Education (RG157/23)
  • Ministry of Education (RT11/23)
  • Agency for Science, Technology and Research (M24N7c0080)
  • Agency for Science, Technology and Research (H25-MRO3489)
  • Nanyang Technological University (Nanyang Assistant Professorship Start Up grant)
  • Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/T02643X/1)
  • European Research Council (FLEET-786851)
  • European Research Council (ASTRA-101248385)

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