Constraining Born–Infeld-like nonlinear electrodynamics using hydrogen’s ionization energy

In this work, the hydrogen’s ionization energy was used to constrain the free parameter b of three Born–Infeld-like electrodynamics namely Born–Infeld itself, Logarithmic electrodynamics and Exponential electrodynamics. An analytical methodology capable of calculating the hydrogen ground state energy level correction for a generic nonlinear electrodynamics was developed. Using the experimental uncertainty in the ground state energy of the hydrogen atom, the bound b>5.37× 10²⁰KV/m , where $$K=2$$ , 4√2/3 and √π for the Born–Infeld, Logarithmic and Exponential electrodynamics respectively, was established. In the particular case of Born–Infeld electrodynamics, the constraint found for b was compared with other constraints present in the literature.