Propagation of light in area metric backgrounds

Abstract

The propagation of light in area metric spacetimes, which naturally emerge as refined backgrounds in quantum electrodynamics and quantum gravity, is studied from first principles. In the geometric-optical limit, light rays are found to follow geodesics in a Finslerian geometry, with the Finsler norm being determined by the area metric tensor. Based on this result, and an understanding of the non-linear relation between ray vectors and wave covectors in such refined backgrounds, we study light deflection in spherically symmetric situations, and obtain experimental bounds on the non-metricity of spacetime in the solar system.

arXiv comment18pp, no figures, Journal version

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Cited by in corpus (28)

• Finsler gravity action from variational completion
• Finsler spacetime geometry in Physics
• Geometry of physical dispersion relations
• Geodesics and the magnitude-redshift relation on cosmologically symmetric Finsler spacetimes
• Berwald spacetimes and very special relativity
• Causal structure and algebraic classification of area metric spacetimes in four dimensions
• Birefringence in pseudo-Finsler spacetimes
• Radar orthogonality and radar length in Finsler and metric spacetime geometry
• Observers' measurements in premetric electrodynamics I: Time and radar length
• Quantization of general linear electrodynamics
• Gravitational dynamics for all tensorial spacetimes carrying predictive, interpretable and quantizable matter
• Electromagnetic Potential in Pre-Metric Electrodynamics: Causal Structure, Propagators and Quantization
• Observables from spherically symmetric modified dispersion relations
• Determination of electromagnetic medium from the Fresnel surface
• Quantum Energy Inequalities in Pre-Metric Electrodynamics
• Non-dissipative electromagnetic medium with a double light cone
• Characterisation and representation of non-dissipative electromagnetic medium with a double light cone
• Massive motion in Brans-Dicke geometry and beyond
• Geometry of Area Without Length
• A restatement of the normal form theorem for area metrics
• Inequalities from Lorentz-Finsler norms
• Remarks on the algebraic structure of (2, 2) double forms
• Electromagnetic and gravitational interactions from Lagrangian mechanics
• Etherington duality breaking: gravitational lensing in non-metric spacetimes versus intrinsic alignments
• Loop Special Relativity: Kaluza-Klein area metric as a line element for stringy events
• Propagation features of Lorentz-violating electrodynamics
• A local quantum Mach principle and the metricity of spacetime
• Kinetic gases in static spherically symmetric modified dispersion relations