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Electromagnetic Duality Anomaly in Curved Spacetimes.
Ivan Agullo1, Adrian Del Rio1,2, Jose Navarro-Salas2
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803-4001, USA.
Physical Review Letters
|April 4, 2017
Summary
Quantum electromagnetism conservation laws are broken by gravitational fields. This research reveals that electric-magnetic duality rotations, typically conserved, are disrupted at the quantum level by specific gravitational conditions, impacting field polarization.
Area of Science:
- Theoretical physics
- Quantum field theory
- General relativity
Background:
- Source-free Maxwell action exhibits electric-magnetic duality symmetry.
- This symmetry leads to a conserved classical Noether charge.
- Quantum anomalies can arise from interactions with background fields.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the quantum behavior of electric-magnetic duality in curved spacetimes.
- To determine if gravitational fields break the classical conservation law.
- To explore the physical consequences of this potential symmetry breaking.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of the Maxwell action in curved spacetimes.
- Application of quantum field theory techniques.
- Investigation of the role of the Chern-Pontryagin invariant.
Main Results:
- The classical conservation law associated with electric-magnetic duality is broken at the quantum level.
- This breaking occurs in the presence of a background gravitational field with a nontrivial Chern-Pontryagin invariant.
- A parallel is drawn to the chiral anomaly in quantum electrodynamics.
Conclusions:
- Quantum electromagnetism in curved spacetimes is not always dual-invariant.
- Gravitational fields can introduce anomalies that break fundamental symmetries.
- The net polarization of the quantum electromagnetic field is not conserved under these conditions.