English

How does the photon's spin affect Gravitational Wave measurements?

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2019-10-02 v2

Abstract

We study the effect of the polarization of light beams on the time delay measured in Gravitational Wave experiments. To this end, we consider the Mathisson-Papapetrou-Dixon equations in a gravitational wave background, with two of the possible spin supplementary conditions: by Frenkel-Pirani, or by Tulczyjew. In the first case, photons follow a null geodesic and thus no spin effect is present. The second case shows a deviation of the photons from the null geodesic, resulting in a tiny effect on the measured time delay of photons depending on their polarization state.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1904.09260,
  title  = {How does the photon's spin affect Gravitational Wave measurements?},
  author = {Loïc Marsot},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1904.09260},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

12 pages; version 2 matches publication with an improved introduction, 14 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-23T08:44:54.038Z