Aspects of a novel nonlinear electrodynamics in flat spacetime and in a gravity-coupled scenario

Abstract: A novel nonlinear electrodynamics (NLE) model with two dimensionful parameters is introduced and investigated. Our model obeys the Maxwellian limit and exhibits behaviour similar to the Born-Infeld Lagrangian in the weak field limit. It is shown that the electric field of a point charge in this model has a definite maximum value. Thus, the self-energy of the point charge is finite. The phenomenon of vacuum birefringence is found to occur in the presence of an external uniform electric field. Causality and unitarity conditions for all background electric fields hold, whereas, for magnetic fields, a restricted domain of validity is found. Moreover, a minimal coupling of Einstein's General Relativity (GR) with this NLE results in solutions of regular black holes or naked singularities, depending on whether the source is a nonlinear magnetic monopole or an electric charge, respectively.