Planck intermediate results. XLIX. Parity-violation constraints from polarization data

Abstract

Parity violating extensions of the standard electromagnetic theory cause in vacuo rotation of the plane of polarization of propagating photons. This effect, also known as cosmic birefringence, impacts the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy angular power spectra, producing non-vanishing $T$--$B$ and $E$--$B$ correlations that are otherwise null when parity is a symmetry. Here we present new constraints on an isotropic rotation, parametrized by the angle $\alpha$, derived from Planck 2015 CMB polarization data. To increase the robustness of our analyses, we employ two complementary approaches, in harmonic space and in map space, the latter based on a peak stacking technique. The two approaches provide estimates for $\alpha$ that are in agreement within statistical uncertainties and very stable against several consistency tests. Considering the $T$--$B$ and $E$--$B$ information jointly, we find $\alpha =0.31^{\circ }\pm 0.05^{\circ }(stat.)\pm 0.28^{\circ }(syst.)$ from the harmonic analysis and $\alpha =0.35^{\circ }\pm 0.05^{\circ }(stat.)\pm 0.28^{\circ }(syst.)$ from the stacking approach. These constraints are compatible with no parity violation and are dominated by the systematic uncertainty in the orientation of Planck's polarization-sensitive bolometers.

15 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

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• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Constraints on Cosmic Birefringence
• The Origin of Parity Violation in Polarized Dust Emission and Implications for Cosmic Birefringence
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• Future CMB constraints on cosmic birefringence and implications for fundamental physics
• Probing Axion-like Particles via CMB Polarization
• Testing chirality of primordial gravitational waves with Planck and future CMB data: no hope from angular power spectra
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• Constraints on direction-dependent cosmic birefringence from Planck polarization data
• Planck 2018 constraints on anisotropic birefringence and its cross-correlation with CMB anisotropy
• CMB Mode Coupling with Isotropic Polarization Rotation
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• Quantum gravity phenomenology at the dawn of the multi-messenger era -- A review
• Joint constraint on primordial gravitational waves and polarization rotation angle with current CMB polarization data
• Polarization Calibration of the BICEP3 CMB polarimeter at the South Pole