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From Varying Couplings to Fundamental Physics pp 139–145Cite as

Cosmological Birefringence: An Astrophysical Test of Fundamental Physics

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Part of the book series: Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings ((ASSSP))

Abstract

We review the methods used to test for the existence of cosmological birefringence, i.e. a rotation of the plane of linear polarization for electromagnetic radiation traveling over cosmological distances, which might arise in a number of important contexts involving the violation of fundamental physical principles. The main methods use: (1) the radio polarization of radio galaxies and quasars, (2) the ultraviolet polarization of radio galaxies, and (3) the cosmic microwave background polarization. We discuss the main results obtained so far, the advantages and disadvantages of each method, and future prospects.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Reference [3] had earlier claimed a substantial anisotropy in the angle between the direction of the radio axis and the direction of linear radio polarization in a sample of high-luminosity classical double radio sources, but used it to infer a rotation of the Universe, not to test for CB.

  2. 2.

    When a distant radio galaxy (z > 0. 7) is observed at optical wavelengths (λ obs.  ∼ 5000 \r{A}), these correspond to the UV in the rest frame (λ em.  ≤ 3000 \r{A}).

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Jan Browne for a useful discussion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo E. Fermi 5, Firenze, Italy

    Sperello di Serego Alighieri

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  1. Sperello di Serego Alighieri
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Correspondence to Sperello di Serego Alighieri .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Centro de Astrofisica, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas, Porto, 4150-762, Portugal

    Carlos Martins

  2. INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, Trieste, 34131, Italy

    Paolo Molaro

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Alighieri, S.d.S. (2011). Cosmological Birefringence: An Astrophysical Test of Fundamental Physics. In: Martins, C., Molaro, P. (eds) From Varying Couplings to Fundamental Physics. Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19397-2_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19397-2_14

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-19397-2

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