Anomalous CMB polarization and gravitational chirality

Contaldi, Carlo R.; Magueijo, Joao; Smolin, Lee

Anomalous CMB polarization and gravitational chirality

Authors

Contaldi, Carlo R.

Magueijo, Joao

Smolin, Lee

Description

We consider the possibility that gravity breaks parity, with left and right handed gravitons coupling to matter with a different Newton's constant and show that this would affect their zero-point vacuum fluctuations during inflation. Should there be a cosmic background of gravity waves, the effect would translate into anomalous CMB polarization. Non-vanishing TB (and EB) polarization components emerge, revealing interesting experimental targets. Indeed if reasonable chirality is present a TB measurement would provide the easiest way to detect a gravitational wave background. We speculate on the theoretical implications of such an observation.
5 pages, 1 figure