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CMB birefringence from vacuum interfaces

Nemanja Kaloper*

  • *Contact author: kaloper@physics.ucdavis.edu
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 036028 – Published 25 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/cyz7-kplp

Abstract

Hints of cosmic microwave background polarization rotation (Δϑ∼10−3  rad) are commonly attributed to late-time dynamics of ultralight axions. We show that such ultralight degrees of freedom are not required. Polarization rotation naturally arises as a geometric interface phase acquired when photons cross interfaces between topologically distinct dark sector vacua. The effect is a discrete phase shift fixed by the normalization of a wall-supported electromagnetic Chern-Simons interaction and protected by an emergent 1-form symmetry of the low energy effective theory. This mechanism reproduces the familiar adiabatic rotation induced by light axion domain walls, but persists for arbitrarily thin walls where the axion is heavy or absent. In this regime the rotation manifests as a Pancharatnam phase localized at vacuum interfaces, independent of redshift and photon frequency below a natural ultraviolet cutoff. Cosmic birefringence thus emerges as a probe of vacuum structure in the dark sector, rather than of light-field dynamics.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 036028– Published 25 August, 2026
  • Received 6 June 2026
  • Accepted 29 July 2026
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