Spin Hall effect of photons in a static gravitational field

Journal Article · Sun Apr 15 04:00:00 EDT 2007 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.75.084035· OSTI ID:21020404

Gosselin, Pierre ^[1]; Berard, Alain; Mohrbach, Herve ^[2]

---

1. Universite Grenoble I, Institut Fourier, UMR 5582 CNRS-UJF, UFR de Mathematiques, BP74, 38402 Saint Martin d'Heres, Cedex (France)
2. 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, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 75; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
BIREFRINGENCE
CORRECTIONS
COSMOLOGY
COUPLING
EQUATIONS OF MOTION
GEODESICS
GRAVITATIONAL FIELDS
HALL EFFECT
HAMILTONIANS
HELICITY
OPTICS
PHOTONS
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
SEMICLASSICAL APPROXIMATION
SPACE-TIME
SPIN
TORSION
VELOCITY