Neutrino-Induced Polarization Rotation in Active Galactic Nuclei Plasmas
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 ω-2 scaling of Faraday rotation. This anomalous scaling can occur either at the resonance plasma frequency condition ω ωp, or when Eν0 mνω/ωp lies within the range of the neutrino energy spectrum. We estimate the effect for three scenarios: jets propagating through the cosmic neutrino background (CνB), jets with an internal flux of high-energy neutrinos, and accretion-disk plasma permeated by the CνB. Of the three scenarios, the latter gives the largest rotation angle ϕ d 10-35\,rad, 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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