Cosmic Polarization Rotation: an Astrophysical Test of Fundamental Physics

Abstract

Possible violations of fundamental physical principles, e.g. the Einstein equivalence prin- ciple on which all metric theories of gravity are based, including general relativity (GR), would lead to a rotation of the plane of polarization for linearly polarized radiation traveling over cosmological distances, the so-called cosmic polarization rotation (CPR). We review here the astrophysical tests which have been carried out so far to check if CPR exists. These are using the radio and ultraviolet polarization of radio galaxies and the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (both E-mode and B-mode). These tests so far have been negative, leading to upper limits of the order of one degree on any CPR angle, thereby increasing our confidence in those physical principles, including GR. We also discuss future prospects in detecting CPR or improving the constraints on it.

The first version of this paper is published in International Journal of Modern Physics D, vol. 24, 1530016 (2015). This version has been updated to include results from Planck and other experiments and will be published as a chapter in the book "One Hundred Years of General Relativity: Cosmology and Gravity", edited by Wei-Tou Ni (World Scientific, Singapore, 2016)

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• A note on the birefringence angle estimation in CMB data analysis
• Optical linear polarization measurements of quasars obtained with the Very Large Telescope at Paranal Observatory
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• Equivalence Principles, Spacetime Structure and the Cosmic Connection
• ALMA Band 3 polarimetric follow-up of a complete sample of faint PACO sources
• On spacetime structure and electrodynamics
• Recent results and perspectives on cosmology and fundamental physics from microwave surveys