Published in:
Physical Review D 72,4 (2005) 042001;
Link to original published article:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.72.042001
Abstract
Gauge theories of gravity provide an elegant and promising extension of general relativity. In this paper we show that the Poincare gauge theory exhibits gravity-induced birefringence under the assumption of a specific gauge invariant nonminimal coupling between torsion and Maxwell's field. Furthermore we give for the first time an explicit expression for the induced phase shift between two orthogonal polarization modes within the Poincare framework. Since such a phase shift can lead to a depolarization of light emitted from an extended source this effect is, in principle, observable. We use white dwarf polarimetric data to constrain the essential coupling constant responsible for this effect.
Keywords
kalb-ramond field;; magnetic-fields;; vacuum solution;; re j0317-853;; white-dwarf;; torsion
Date of this Version
January 2005