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