- Open Access
Neutrino-induced polarization rotation in active galactic nuclei plasmas
Phys. Rev. D 113, 113003 – Published 8 June, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/1wts-fq7w
Abstract
We study parity-violating birefringence induced by an asymmetric neutrino background in plasmas associated with active galactic nuclei (AGN). We derive a directionality factor arising from the relative bulk motion between the neutrino medium and plasma, and show that it can produce an anomalous frequency dependence of the polarization-rotation angle, distinct from the scaling of Faraday rotation. This anomalous scaling can occur either at the resonance plasma frequency condition , or when lies within the range of the neutrino energy spectrum. We estimate the effect for three scenarios: jets propagating through the cosmic neutrino background (), jets with an internal flux of high-energy neutrinos, and accretion-disk plasma permeated by the . Of the three scenarios, the latter gives the largest rotation angle , at x-ray frequencies. Although the predicted rotation angles are below current polarimetric sensitivity, the identified spectral signatures provide a theoretical framework for probing neutrino asymmetries and AGN plasma properties independent of magnetic field models.
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