English

Constraints on Anisotropic Cosmic Birefringence from CMB B-mode Polarization

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2025-06-27 v3 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Abstract

Cosmic birefringence-the rotation of the polarization plane of light as it traverses the universe-offers a direct observational window into parity-violating physics beyond the Standard Model. In this work, we revisit the anisotropic component of cosmic birefringence, which leads to the generation of BB-mode polarization in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Using an exact theoretical treatment beyond the thin last-scattering surface approximation, we constrain the amplitude of anisotropic birefringence with combined polarization data from SPTpol, ACT, POLARBEAR, and BICEP. The joint analysis yields a best-fit amplitude of ACB=0.420.34+0.40×104A_{\rm CB} = 0.42^{+0.40}_{-0.34} \times 10^{-4}, consistent with zero within 2σ2\sigma, and we place a 95\% confidence-level upper bound of ACB<1×104A_{\rm CB} < 1 \times 10^{-4}. The constraint is not dominated by any single experiment and remains robust under the inclusion of a possible isotropic rotation angle. These results provide leading constraints on anisotropic cosmic birefringence from CMB BB-mode polarization and illustrate the potential of upcoming experiments to improve sensitivity to parity-violating effects in the early universe.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2504.13154,
  title  = {Constraints on Anisotropic Cosmic Birefringence from CMB B-mode Polarization},
  author = {A. I. Lonappan and B. Keating and K. Arnold},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.13154},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

6 pages, 3 figures