Spin Hall effect of photons in a static gravitational field
- Universite Grenoble I, Institut Fourier, UMR 5582 CNRS-UJF, UFR de Mathematiques, BP74, 38402 Saint Martin d'Heres, Cedex (France)
- Universite Paul Verlaine, Institut de Physique, ICPMB1-FR CNRS 2843, Laboratoire de Physique Moleculaire et des Collisions, 1, boulevard Arago, 57078 Metz (France)
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 a static gravitational field. These equations which are obtained in the representation diagonalizing the Hamiltonian at the order ({Dirac_h}/2{pi}), present the first order corrections to the geometrical optics. The photon Hamiltonian shows a new kind of helicity-torsion coupling. However, even for a torsionless space-time, photons do not follow the usual null geodesic as a consequence of an anomalous velocity term. This term is responsible for the gravitational birefringence phenomenon: photons with distinct helicity follow different geodesics in a static gravitational field.
- OSTI ID:
- 21020404
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 75, Issue 8; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.75.084035; (c) 2007 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2821
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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