Solar System Constraints on Light Propagation from Higher Derivative Corrections to General Relativity and Implications for Fundamental Physics

While the two derivative action of gravitation is specified uniquely, higher derivative operators are also allowed with coefficients that are not specified uniquely by effective field theory. We focus on a four derivative operator in which the Riemann tensor couples directly to the electromagnetic field $a\,R_{\mu\nu\alpha\beta}F^{\mu\nu}F^{\alpha\beta}$. We compute the corresponding corrections to the Shapiro time delay in the solar system and compare this to data from the Cassini probe. We place an observational upper bound on the coefficient $a$ at 95\% confidence $|a|<26\,(1000\,\mbox{km})^2$. By way of motivation, we also compare this to a weak gravity conjecture (WGC) prediction of a bound on the coefficients $a,\,b$ of four derivative operators involving the graviton and the photon; this includes the above term $a\,R_{\mu\nu\alpha\beta}F^{\mu\nu}F^{\alpha\beta}$ as well as $b\,F^4$. We show that by using the observed value of the $b$ coefficient from measurements of light by light scattering, which arises in the Standard Model from integrating out the electron, the WGC predicted bound for $a$ is $a\lesssim 7.8\,(1000\,\mbox{km})^2$. This is consistent with the above observational bound, but is intriguingly close and can be further probed in other observations.