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Recently, we have used, pulsar polarisation datasets, on circular polarisation degree & linear polarisation position angle, to relate with well established theories, on ellipticity parameter and linear polarisation position angles, accrued by unpolarised photons, while undergoing photon-ALP oscillations, inside a magnetised medium. This has given us parameter values such as ALP mass and its coupling to photons. To further test this, we now switch to different wavebands, other than earlier 21 cm wavelength, and check for the validity of our model. Here we use two data sets on circular polarisation degree of identical pulsars observed in two different wavebands. We show, correlation between these two new sets of data and our model using the composite product variable of ALP mass and its coupling to photons, exist. We also check whether our model hypothesis that one physical effect, namely ALP-photon mixing is sufficient to, estimate ALP parameters, faithfully, or not. We conclude by describing other pertinent physical effects that may be included into our model to explain the circular polarisation degree of pulsars, independent of its operating wavelength of observation., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables. [EICP2]

Recently a data set containing linear and circular polarisation information of a collection of six hundred pulsars has been released. The operative radio wavelength for the same was 21 cm. Pulsars radio emission process is modelled either with synchroton / superconducting self-Compton route or with curvature radiation route. These theories fall short of accounting for the circular polarisation observed, as they are predisposed towards producing, solely, linear polarisation. Here we invoke (pseudo)scalars and their interaction with photons mediated by colossal magnetic fields of pulsars, to account for the circular part of polarisation data. This enables us to estimate the pseudoscalar parameters such as its coupling to photons and its mass in conjunction as product. To obtain these values separately, we turn our attention to recent observation on 47 pulsars, whose absolute polarisation position angles have been made available. Except, a third of the latter set, the rest of it overlaps with the expansive former data set on polarisation type \& degree. This helps us figure out, both the pseudoscalar parameters individually, that we report here., Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, 5 tables

E. M. Purcell showed that a body has to perform non-reciprocal motion in order to propel itself in a highly viscous environment. The swimmer with one degree of freedom is bound to do reciprocal motion, whereby the center of mass of the swimmer will not be able to propel itself due to the Scallop theorem. In the present study, we are proposing a new artificial swimmer called the one hinge swimmer. Here we will show that flexibility plays a crucial role in the breakdown of Scallop theorem in the case of one-hinge swimmer or two-dimensional scallop at low Reynolds number. To model a one-hinge artificial swimmer, we use bead spring model for two arms joined by a hinge with bending potential for the arms in order to make them semi-flexible. The fluid is simulated using a particle based mesoscopic simulation method called the multi-particle collision dynamics with Anderson thermostat. Here we show that when our swimmer has rigid arms, the center of mass of the swimmer is not able to propel itself as expected from the Scallop theorem. When we introduce flexibility in the arms, the time reversal symmetry breaks in the case of the one-hinged swimmer without the presence of a head contrary to the one-armed super paramagnetic swimmer which required a passive head in order to swim. The reduced velocity of the swimmer is studied using a range of parameters like flexibility, beating frequency and the amplitude of the beat, where we obtain similar scaling as that of the one-armed super paramagnetic swimmer. We also calculate the dimensionless Sperm number for the swimmer and we get the maximum velocity when the Sperm number is around 1.7., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures

Recently, it was shown, that the absence of circular polarization of visible light from quasars, severely constrains the interpretation of axion like particles (ALPs) as a solution for the generation of the linear polarization. Furthermore, the new observation of the linear polarization in the radio wavelength from quasars, similar to the earlier observation performed in the optical band, makes the ALPs scenario inconsistent with at least one of the two observations. In this study we extend this scenario, to two axion like particles, one scalar and another pseudoscalar. We find, that the effects from scalar and pseudoscalar cancel out each other, thereby suppressing the circular polarization, while preserving consistent linear polarization, as observed in both visible and radio waves bands., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures

We compute the flux of axions from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). Axions can be produced in the accretion disk by the Compton, Bremsstrahlung and Primakoff processes. We find that the axion luminosity due to these processes is negligible in comparison to the photon luminosity from AGNs. We also compute the luminosity of a hypothetical pseudoscalar, with very small mass, from the AGN atmosphere due to the phenomenon of pseudoscalar-photon mixing in background magnetic field. In this case we find that for some parameter ranges, the pseudoscalar flux can exceed that of photons. We comment on the implications of this result on the observed large scale alignment of optical polarizations from AGNs., Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, minor changes

Pseudoscalar particles, with almost zero mass and very weak coupling to the visible matter, arise in many extensions of the standard model of particle physics. Their mixing with photons in the presence of an external magnetic field leads to many interesting astrophysical and cosmological consequences. This mixing depends on the medium properties, the momentum of the photon and the background magnetic field. Here we give a general treatment of pseudoscalar-photon oscillations in a background magnetic field, taking the Faraday term into account. We give predictions valid in all regimes, under the assumption that the frequency of the wave is much higher than the plasma frequency of the medium. At sufficiently high frequencies, the Faraday effect is negligible and we reproduce the standard pseudoscalar-photon mixing phenomenon. However at low frequencies, where Faraday effect is important, the mixing formulae are considerably modified. We explicitly compute the contribution due to the longitudinal mode of the photon and show that it is negligible., Comment: 16 pages, no figures

We study the possibility of evading astrophysical bound on light pseudoscalars. We argue that the solar bounds can be evaded if we have a sufficiently strong self-coupling of the pseudoscalars. The required coupling does not conflict with any known experimental bounds. We also show that it is possible to find a coupling range such that the recent PVLAS experiment is not in conflict with any astrophysical bounds., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Brief talk presented at XVII DAE-BRNS HEP Symposium, 2006. References Added. Typos Corrected. Introduction Rewritten

Weakly coupled, almost massless, spin 0 particles have been predicted by many extensions of the standard model of particle physics. Recently, the PVLAS group observed a rotation of polarization of electromagnetic waves in vacuum in the presence of transverse magnetic field. This phenomenon is best explained by the existence of a weakly coupled light pseudoscalar particle. However, the coupling required by this experiment is much larger than the conventional astrophysical limits. Here we consider a hypothetical self-interacting pseudoscalar particle which couples weakly with visible matter. Assuming that these pseudoscalars pervade the galaxy, we show that the solar limits on the pseudoscalar-photon coupling can be evaded., Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures

We study the possibility of evading astrophysical bounds on light pseudoscalars. We argue that the solar bounds can be evaded if we have a sufficiently strong self coupling of the pseudoscalars. The required couplings do not conflict with any known experimental bounds. We show that it is possible to find a coupling range such that the results of the recent PVLAS experiment are not in conflict with any astrophysical bounds., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, minor changes