Gravity and handedness of photons

Abstract

Vacuum fluctuations of quantum fields are altered in presence of a strong gravitational background, with important physical consequences. We argue that a non-trivial spacetime geometry can act as an optically active medium for quantum electromagnetic radiation, in such a way that the state of polarization of radiation changes in time, even in the absence of electromagnetic sources. This is a quantum effect, and is a consequence of an anomaly related to the classical invariance under electric-magnetic duality rotations in Maxwell theory.

arXiv commentFirst Award in the 2017 Essay Competition of the Gravity Research Foundation

References in corpus (1)

• Electromagnetic duality anomaly in curved spacetimes

Cited by in corpus (6)

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• Classical and quantum aspects of electric-magnetic duality rotations in curved spacetimes
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• Photon helicity and quantum anomalies in curved spacetimes
• Precessing binary black holes as engines of electromagnetic helicity
• Chiral anomalies induced by gravitational waves