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Astrophysics

Title: Is there evidence for cosmic anisotropy in the polarization of distant radio sources?

Abstract: Measurements of the polarization angle and orientation of cosmological radio sources may be used to search for unusual effects in the propagation of light through the universe. Recently, Nodland and Ralston (astro-ph/9704196) have claimed to find evidence for a redshift- and direction-dependent rotation effect in existing data. We re-examine these data and argue that there is no statistically significant signal present. We are able to place stringent limits on hypothetical chiral interactions of photons propagating through spacetime.
Comments: 17 pages, including 7 figures. (Arithmetic error corrected, fixing value of chi^2)
Subjects: Astrophysics (astro-ph); General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc); High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
Journal reference: Phys.Rev.Lett. 79 (1997) 2394-2397
Report number: NSF-ITP/97-036
Cite as: arXiv:astro-ph/9704263v3

Submission history

From: Sean Carroll [view email]
[v1] Sun, 27 Apr 1997 21:36:42 GMT (65kb)
[v2] Mon, 28 Apr 1997 22:30:44 GMT (0kb,I)
[v3] Tue, 29 Apr 1997 15:58:47 GMT (64kb)