Probing CPT Violation with CMB Polarization Measurements

Understand

The electrodynamics modified by the Chern-Simons term $\mathcal{L}_{cs}\sim p_{\mu}A_{\nu}\tilde F^{\mu\nu}$ with a non-vanishing $p_{\mu}$ violates the {\it Charge-Parity-Time Reversal} symmetry (CPT) and rotates the linear polarizations of the propagating {\it Cosmic Microwave Background} (CMB) photons.

• In this paper we measure the rotation angle $\Delta\alpha$ by performing a global analysis on the current CMB polarization measurements from the {\it seven-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe} (WMAP7), {\it BOOMERanG 2003} (B03), BICEP and QUaD using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method.
• Neglecting the systematic errors of these experiments, we find that the results from WMAP7, B03 and BICEP all are consistent and their combination gives $\Delta\alpha=-2.33\pm0.72~{\rm deg}~(68\%~C.L.)$, indicating a $3\,\sigma$ detection of the CPT violation.
• The QUaD data alone gives $\Delta\alpha=0.59\pm0.42~{\rm deg}~(68\%~C.L.)$ which has an opposite sign for the central value and smaller error bar compared to that obtained from WMAP7, B03 and BICEP.