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Lembo M, Lattanzi M, Pagano L, Gruppuso A, Natoli P, Forastieri F. Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization as a Tool to Constrain the Optical Properties of the Universe. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2021; 127:011301. [PMID: 34270318 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.127.011301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2020] [Revised: 12/14/2020] [Accepted: 05/18/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
We present a novel formalism to describe the in vacuo conversion between polarization states of propagating radiation, also known as generalized Faraday effect (GFE), in a cosmological context. Thinking of GFE as a potential tracer of new, isotropy- and/or parity-violating physics, we apply our formalism to the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarized anisotropy power spectra, providing a simple framework to easily compute their observed modifications. In so doing, we re-interpret previously known results, namely, the in vacuo rotation of the linear polarization plane of CMB photons (or cosmic birefringence) but also point out that GFE could lead to the partial conversion of linear into circular polarization. We notice that GFE can be seen as an effect of light propagating in an anisotropic and/or chiral medium (a "dark crystal") and recast its parameters as the components of an effective "cosmic susceptibility tensor." For a wave number-independent susceptibility tensor, this allows us to set an observational bound on a GFE-induced CMB circularly polarized power spectrum, or VV, at C_{ℓ}^{VV}<2×10^{-5} μK^{2} (95% C.L.), at its peak ℓ≃370, which is some 3 orders of magnitude better than presently available direct VV measurements. We argue that, unless dramatic technological improvements will arise in direct V-modes measurements, cosmic variance-limited linear polarization surveys expected within this decade should provide, as a byproduct, superior bounds on GFE-induced circular polarization of the CMB.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margherita Lembo
- Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Ferrara, via Giuseppe Saragat 1, I-44122 Ferrara, Italy
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Ferrara, via Giuseppe Saragat 1, I-44122 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Massimiliano Lattanzi
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Ferrara, via Giuseppe Saragat 1, I-44122 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Luca Pagano
- Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Ferrara, via Giuseppe Saragat 1, I-44122 Ferrara, Italy
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Ferrara, via Giuseppe Saragat 1, I-44122 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Alessandro Gruppuso
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica-Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio, via Gobetti 101, I-40129 Bologna, Italy
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bologna, viale Berti Pichat 6/2, I-40127 Bologna, Italy
| | - Paolo Natoli
- Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Ferrara, via Giuseppe Saragat 1, I-44122 Ferrara, Italy
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Ferrara, via Giuseppe Saragat 1, I-44122 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Francesco Forastieri
- Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Ferrara, via Giuseppe Saragat 1, I-44122 Ferrara, Italy
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Ferrara, via Giuseppe Saragat 1, I-44122 Ferrara, Italy
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Manshouri H, Hoseinpour A, Zarei M. Quantum Boltzmann equation for fermions: An attempt to calculate the NMR relaxation and decoherence times using quantum field theory techniques. Int J Clin Exp Med 2021. [DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.103.096020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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Bartolo N, Hoseinpour A, Matarrese S, Orlando G, Zarei M. CMB circular and
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-mode polarization from new interactions. Int J Clin Exp Med 2019. [DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.100.043516] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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