Particle Interpretations of the PVLAS Data

Abstract

Recently the PVLAS collaboration reported the observation of a rotation of linearly polarized laser light induced by a transverse magnetic field -- a signal being unexpected within standard QED. In this review, we emphasize two mechanisms which have been proposed to explain this result: production of a single light neutral spin-zero particle or pair production of light minicharged particles. We discuss a class of models, involving, in addition to our familiar ``visible'' photon, further light ``hidden paraphotons'', which mix kinematically with the visible one, and further light paracharged particles. In these models, very strong astrophysical and cosmological bounds on the weakly interacting light particles mentioned above can be evaded. In the upcoming year, a number of decisive laboratory based tests of the particle interpretation of the PVLAS anomaly will be done. More generally, such experiments, exploiting high fluxes of low-energy photons and/or large electromagnetic fields, will dig into previously unconstrained parameter space of the above mentioned models.