Covariant Symmetry Classifications for Observables of Cosmological Birefringence

Abstract

Polarizations of electromagnetic waves from distant galaxies are known to be correlated with the source orientations. These quantities have been used to search for signals of cosmological birefringence. We review and classify transformation properties of the polarization and source orientation observables. The classifications give a firm foundation to certain practices which have sprung up informally in the literature. Transformations under parity play a central role, showing that parity violation in emission or in the subsequent propagation is an observable phenomenon. We also discuss statistical measures, correlations and distributions which transform properly and which can be used for systematic data analysis.

8 pages, revtex, 1 postscript figure

References in corpus (1)

• Anisotropy in the Distribution of Galactic Radio Polarizations

Cited by in corpus (13)

• The Virgo Alignment Puzzle in Propagation of Radiation on Cosmological Scales
• Thermoelastic effects at low temperatures and quantum limits in displacement measurements
• Cosmic Birefringence within the Framework of Heterotic String Theory
• Observable signals in a string inspired axion-dilaton background and Randall-Sundrum scenario
• Polarization Alignment in JVAS/CLASS flat spectrum radio surveys
• Evidence of isotropy at large-scale from polarizations of radio sources
• A Circular Statistical Method for Extracting Rotation Measures
• The Parity Odd Universe, Dark Energy and QCD
• Constraining the Randall-Sundrum modulus in the light of recent PVLAS data
• A mechanism to explain Galaxy alignment over a range of scales
• Interpretation of the Global Anisotropy in the Radio Polarizations of Cosmologically Distant Sources
• Constraining PCP Violating Varying Alpha Theory Through Laboratory Experiments
• Analysing the Effect on CMB in a Parity and Charge Parity Violating Varying Alpha Theory