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

Apr, 1997
17 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.Lett. 79 (1997) 2394-2397
e-Print:
Report number:
  • NSF-ITP-97-036

Citations per year

1997200420112018202402468101214
Abstract: (arXiv)
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.