Skewon no-go theorem

Abstract

Axion modification of the electrodynamics can be considered as produced by an irreducible part of the constitutive pseudotensor. In this paper, we study the modification of wave propagation produced by the second irreducible part called skewon. We introduce the notions of skewon optic tensor and skewon optic covector. With these devices we prove that in a pseudo-Riemannian manifold endowed with an arbitrary skewon at least one solution of the dispersion relation is spacelike. This means that the skewon generates superluminal wave motion and is thus ruled out on the basis of SR principles.

To appear in Phys. Rev. D

References in corpus (2)

• On light propagation in premetric electrodynamics. Covariant dispersion relation
• Covariant jump conditions in electromagnetism

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• New constraints on cosmic polarization rotation from the ACTPol cosmic microwave background B-Mode polarization observation and the BICEP2 constraint update
• New Constraints on Cosmic Polarization Rotation from B-Mode Polarization in Cosmic Microwave Background
• On skewon modification of light cone structure
• Non-minimal Einstein-Maxwell theory: the Fresnel equation and the Petrov classification of a trace-free susceptibility tensor
• Electromagnetic media with Higgs-type spontaneously broken transparency
• Photon propagator in skewon electrodynamics