Noncommutativity of Space and Rotation of Polarization of Light in a Background Magnetic Field

TL;DR

This paper investigates whether the observed polarization rotation of light in a magnetic field can be explained by noncommutative space-time effects, proposing a specific noncommutativity parameter within noncommutative QED.

Contribution

It introduces a novel explanation for polarization rotation using noncommutative QED and estimates the noncommutativity parameter needed to match experimental observations.

Findings

Noncommutative space-time can account for the polarization rotation observed by PVLAS.

A noncommutativity parameter of approximately (30 GeV)$^{-2}$ is required.

The proposed model links quantum space-time structure to observable optical phenomena.

Abstract

Recently the PVLAS collaboration has reported the observation of rotation of polarization of light propagating in a background magnetic field. In this letter we explore the possibility that such a rotation is a result of noncommutativity in the background space-time. To explain the reported polarization rotation within noncommutative QED we need the noncommutativity parameter $\theta\simeq (30 {\rm GeV})^{-2}$.