3-form dark energy can explain cosmic birefringence with a dimension-4 photon coupling, yielding redshift profiles that can mimic or differ from axion dark energy, but the implied photon mass estimate is numerically shaky.
Indication of Anisotropy in Electromagnetic Propagation over Cosmological Distances
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abstract
We report a systematic rotation of the plane of polarization of electromagnetic radiation propagating over cosmological distances. The effect is extracted independently from Faraday rotation, and found to be correlated with the angular positions and distances to the sources. Monte Carlo analysis yields probabilistic P-values of order 10^(-3) for this to occur as a fluctuation. A fit yields a birefringence scale of order 10^(25) meters. Dependence on redshift z rules out a local effect. Barring hidden systematic bias in the data, the correlation indicates a new cosmological effect.
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3-form dark energy and cosmic birefringence
3-form dark energy can explain cosmic birefringence with a dimension-4 photon coupling, yielding redshift profiles that can mimic or differ from axion dark energy, but the implied photon mass estimate is numerically shaky.