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Gravity and handedness of photons

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-4001, USA

Departamento de Fisica Teorica and IFIC, Facultad de Fisica, Centro Mixto, Universidad de Valencia-CSIC, Burjassot 46100, Valencia, Spain

E-mail Address: adrian.rio@uv.es

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Jose Navarro-Salas

Departamento de Fisica Teorica and IFIC, Facultad de Fisica, Centro Mixto, Universidad de Valencia-CSIC, Burjassot 46100, Valencia, Spain

E-mail Address: jnavarro@ific.uv.es

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https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218271817420019Cited by:10 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

Vacuum fluctuations of quantum fields are altered in the presence of a strong gravitational background, with important physical consequences. We argue that a nontrivial spacetime geometry can act as an optically active medium for quantum electromagnetic radiation, in such a way that the state of polarization of radiation changes in time, even in the absence of electromagnetic sources. This is a quantum effect, and is a consequence of an anomaly related to the classical invariance under electric-magnetic duality rotations in Maxwell theory.

This essay is awarded first prize in the 2017 Essay Competition of the Gravity Research Foundation.

Keywords:

PACS: 04.62.+v, 11.30.−j, 41.20.Jb

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