Probing for new physics and detecting non-linear vacuum QED effects using gravitational wave interferometer antennas

Abstract

Low energy non-linear QED effects in vacuum have been predicted since 1936 and have been subject of research for many decades. Two main schemes have been proposed for such a ‘first’ detection: measurements of ellipticity acquired by a linearly polarized beam of light passing through a magnetic field and direct light–light scattering. The study of the propagation of light through an external field can also be used to probe for new physics such as the existence of axion-like particles and millicharged particles. Their existence in nature would cause the index of refraction of vacuum to be different from unity in the presence of an external field and dependent of the polarization direction of the propagating light. The major achievement of reaching the project sensitivities in gravitational wave interferometers such as LIGO and VIRGO has opened the possibility of using such instruments for the detection of QED corrections in electrodynamics and for probing new physics at very low energies. We show that it is possible to distinguish between various scenarios of new physics in the hypothetical case of detecting unexpected values. Considering the design sensitivity in the strain of the near future VIRGO+ interferometer leads to a variable dipole magnet configuration such that B2D≥13000 T2 m \(\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}\) for a ‘first’ vacuum non-linear QED detection.