Constraints on cosmological birefringence energy dependence from CMB polarization data

TL;DR

This paper investigates how different theoretical models of cosmological birefringence energy dependence can be constrained using CMB polarization data, providing bounds on model parameters and forecasting future Planck data sensitivity.

Contribution

It introduces a method to constrain various energy dependence models of cosmological birefringence using current and forecasted CMB polarization data.

Findings

Constraints on energy-independent birefringence parameters.

Limits on linear, quadratic, and inverse quadratic energy dependence models.

Forecasted sensitivity of Planck data to these models.

Abstract

We study the possibility of constraining the energy dependence of cosmological birefringence by using CMB polarization data. We consider four possible behaviors, characteristic of different theoretical scenarios: energy-independent birefringence motivated by Chern-Simons interactions of the electromagnetic field, linear energy dependence motivated by a 'Weyl' interaction of the electromagnetic field, quadratic energy dependence, motivated by quantum gravity modifications of low-energy electrodynamics, and inverse quadratic dependence, motivated by Faraday rotation generated by primordial magnetic fields. We constrain the parameters associated to each kind of dependence and use our results to give constraints on the models mentioned. We forecast the sensitivity that Planck data will be able to achieve in this respect.