Kalb-Ramond field interactions in a braneworld scenario

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the Kalb-Ramond field interacts with electromagnetic and gravitational waves in a braneworld model, revealing that these interactions could cause excessive polarization rotation, conflicting with observations.

Contribution

It analyzes the coupling of the Kalb-Ramond field in a Randall-Sundrum braneworld, highlighting an inverted warp factor effect leading to enhanced polarization rotation.

Findings

KR field causes excessive polarization rotation beyond observational bounds

Inverted warp factor affects KR couplings in four dimensions

Theoretical conflicts with observational data are discussed

Abstract

Electromagnetic and (linearized) gravitational interactions of the Kalb-Ramond (KR) field, derived from an underlying ten dimensional heterotic string in the zero slope limit, are studied in a five dimensional background Randall-Sundrum I spacetime with standard model fields confined to the visible brane having negative tension. The warp factor responsible for generating the gauge hierarchy in the Higgs sector is seen to appear inverted in the KR field couplings, when reduced to four dimensions. This leads to dramatically enhanced rotation, {\it far beyond observational bounds}, of the polarization plane of electromagnetic and gravitational waves, when scattered by a homogeneous KR background. Possible reasons for the conflict between theory and observation are discussed.