Gravitational Faraday rotation in binary pulsar systems

Abstract

We study the gravitational Faraday rotation, on linearly polarized light rays emitted by a pulsar, orbiting another compact object. We relate the rotation angle to the orbital phase of the emitting pulsar, as well as to other parameters describing its orbit and the orientation of the angular momentum of the binary companion. We give numerical estimates of the effect for the double-pulsar system PSR J0737-3039, and we note that the expected magnitude is exceedingly small, making the effect unlikely to be observed with present technology. It is however interesting per se, since in this phenomenon, gravito-magnetism plays a leading role, unlike what happens, for instance, when studying light bending or gravitational time delay, where it appears as a correction to the gravito-electric contribution. Also, we envisage the possibility that this effect could be relevant, at least in principle, for a pulsar orbiting a non charged black-hole.