I examine the observational effects of a light scalar field with a scalar coupling
to masses and a pseudoscalar coupling to light and particle spins. The pseudoscalar
coupling to light induces a coupling to atomic spins both by inducing a coupling to
particle spins directly, and by interactions with electromagnetic fields in the atom.
Experiments measuring the interaction of spins to the gradient of the field are the only known way to measure the strength of the interaction with spins. However, limits
on the interaction with light derived from these experiments are barely competitive
with the separate astronomical limits on the scalar interaction and the interaction
with light. Assuming a low mass of the field, as would be the case if the field acts as quintessence, the polarization rotation of the CMB provides a much tighter limit on the product of the pseudoscalar and scalar interaction strengths.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/1303 |
| Date | 19 December 2008 |
| Creators | Lambert, Simon |
| Contributors | Pospelov, Maxim |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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