Coupling the precursor of the most general theory of electromagnetism invariant under duality and conformal invariance with scalars, and BIon-type solutions

Recently, the most general theory of electromagnetism invariant under duality and conformal invariance was written, and dubbed ModMax. It arises from a generalization of Born-Infeld (BI) theory by taking the infinite tension limit, T→∞. In this paper we show that this generalization can be obtained from a branelike construction, just like BI, and can thus be coupled to scalars in the same way to obtain a Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI)-like action. All the BIon and catenoid solutions, and their interpolations, are still solutions of the generalized DBI-like action, suggesting that an interpretation within string theory could be possible. We also show that Rañada's knotted solutions (with nonzero helicities) are still valid, both in the ModMax theory, and in its precursor.