Torsion and Nonmetricity Constraints From Neutron Spin Rotation in Polarized Matter

Abstract

Many modified-gravity frameworks employ non-Riemannian connection degrees of freedom, including torsion and nonmetricity. In Einstein-Cartan-type theories, torsion is associated with spin density, while more general metric-affine frameworks can be investigated through phenomenological searches for in-matter torsion and nonmetricity backgrounds. This work applies an effective field theory approach to characterize general couplings of electron and neutron operators to spacetime torsion and nonmetricity up to mass dimension six, predicting novel neutron-polarization signatures in the presence of an electron background. Neutron spin-rotation data from a polarized-electron ensemble inside a compensated ferrimagnet are used to constrain for the first time axially symmetric, direction-dependent in-matter torsion and nonmetricity combinations.