Cosmic optical activity from an inhomogeneous Kalb-Ramond field

TL;DR

This paper investigates how a spatially inhomogeneous Kalb-Ramond field influences cosmic polarization, revealing an additional frequency-dependent polarization rotation effect on distant galaxy radiation.

Contribution

It introduces a model with harmonic spatial inhomogeneity in the Kalb-Ramond field and analyzes its impact on cosmic polarization rotation, extending previous string-inspired theories.

Findings

Additional polarization rotation proportional to the square of the axion wave frequency.

Enhanced polarization effects for high-redshift galaxies.

Relation between electric and magnetic components of radiation affected.

Abstract

The effects of introducing a harmonic spatial inhomogeneity into the Kalb-Ramond field, interacting with the Maxwell field according to a `string-inspired' proposal made in earlier work are investigated. We examine in particular the effects on the polarization of synchrotron radiation from cosmologically distant (i.e. of redshift greater than 2) galaxies, as well as the relation between the electric and magnetic components of the radiation field. The rotation of the polarization plane of linearly polarized radiation is seen to acquire an additional contribution proportional to the square of the frequency of the dual Kalb-Ramond axion wave, assuming that it is far smaller compared to the frequency of the radiation field.