Related papers: Photon helicity and quantum anomalies in curved sp…
It is well known that not every symmetry of a classical field theory is also a symmetry of its quantum version. When this occurs, we speak of quantum anomalies. The existence of anomalies imply that some classical Noether charges are no…
We consider a modification of electrodynamics in which right- and left-circularly polarized photons are coupled to charged sources differently. Even though photon helicity is a Lorentz invariant quantity, such a modification breaks Lorentz…
We present a new approach to the definition of optical helicity in a medium. Our approach resolves the problem that duality transformations which simultaneously combine $\mathbf{E}$ with $\mathbf{H}$ and $\mathbf{D}$ with $\mathbf{B}$ are…
Based on quantum field theory, we formulate the Wigner function and quantum kinetic theory for polarized photons in curved spacetimes which admit a covariantly constant timelike vector. From this framework, the photonic chiral/zilch…
Starting from a Hamiltonian description of the photon within the set of Bargmann-Wigner equations we derive new semiclassical equations of motion for the photon propagating in static gravitational field. These equations which are obtained…
The helicity modification of light polarization which is induced by the gravitational deflection from a classical heavy rotating body, like a star or a planet, is considered. The expression of the helicity asymmetry is derived; this…
The photon vacuum polarization effect in curved spacetime leads to birefringence, i.e. the photon velocity becomes greater than (or less than) the speed of light depending on its polarization. We investigate this phenomenon in a…
The light force on particles trapped in the field of a high-Q cavity mode depends on the quantum state of field and particle. Different photon numbers generate different optical potentials anddifferent motional states induce different field…
The classical symmetry of the source-free Maxwell equations under electric-magnetic duality rotations leads to a conserved Noether charge, corresponding to the circular polarization of light. We show that, in quantum field theory, the…
Photons impinging on strong electromagnetic fields can change both momentum and helicity state, due to quantum vacuum polarisation. We investigate these effects in the collision of photons with impulsive PP-waves, which describe e.g. the…
We derive a simple expression for the photon helicity and polarisation-flip probabilities in arbitrary background fields, in the low energy regime. Taking the background to model a focused laser beam, we study the impact of pulse shape and…
We consider emission of a photon by an electron in the field of a strong laser wave. Polarization effects in this process are important for a number of physical problems. We discuss a probability of this process for circularly polarized…
Circularly polarized photons have the Berry curvature in the semiclassical regime. Based on the kinetic equation for such chiral photons, we derive the (non)equilibrium expression of the photon current in the direction of the vorticity. We…
Vacuum fluctuations of quantum fields are altered in presence of a strong gravitational background, with important physical consequences. We argue that a non-trivial spacetime geometry can act as an optically active medium for quantum…
Helicity is a universal quantity describing the internal rotation of an object or a field. Whether it characterizes fundamental properties such as the spin of elementary particles or leads to practical consequences such as the toxicity or…
We consider emission of a photon by an electron in the field of a strong laser wave. A probability of this process for circularly or linearly polarized laser photons and for arbitrary polarization of all other particles is calculated. We…
In quantum field theory, photon pairs can be excited out of the vacuum under the influence of dynamical gravitational fields. If the classical electromagnetic duality symmetry held at the quantum level, equal numbers of right- vs…
Polarization, spin, and helicity are important properties of electromagnetic waves. It is commonly believed that helicity is invariant under the Lorentz transformations. This is indeed so for plane waves and their localized superpositions.…
We second quantize the Fermi Lagrangian in the Lorenz gauge to obtain a covariant theory of photon quantum mechanics. Number density is real so it is interpreted as position probability density. The Hilbert space is the vector space of…
A classical circularly polarized electromagnetic wave carries angular momentum, and represents the classical limit of a photon, which carries quantized spin. It is shown that a very similar picture of a circularly polarized coherent wave…