Emission of linearly polarized photons in a strongly coupled magnetized plasma from the gauge/gravity correspondence

TL;DR

This paper uses holographic methods to demonstrate that in a strongly coupled magnetized plasma, emitted photons are linearly polarized in a specific orientation, except when traveling along the magnetic field.

Contribution

It introduces a holographic model with a 5D supergravity truncation to analyze photon polarization in magnetized plasmas, revealing universal polarization behavior.

Findings

Photons are linearly polarized in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field.

Polarization is unaffected by photon momentum except when aligned with the magnetic field.

The model connects holographic duality with observable polarization phenomena.

Abstract

We use holographic methods to show that photons emitted by a strongly coupled plasma subject to a magnetic field are linearly polarized regardless of their four-momentum, except when they propagate along the field direction. The gravitational dual is constructed using a 5D truncation of 10-dimensional type IIB supergravity, and includes a scalar field in addition to the constant magnetic one. In terms of the geometry of the collision experiment that we model, our statement is that any photon produced there has to be in its only polarization state parallel to the reaction plane.