Chiral anomalous dispersion

Abstract

The linearized Einstein equation describing graviton propagation through a chiral medium appears to be helicity dependent. We analyze features of the corresponding spectrum in a collision-less regime above a flat background. In the long wave-length limit, circularly polarized metric perturbations travel with a helicity dependent group velocity that can turn negative giving rise to a new type of an anomalous dispersion. We further show that this chiral anomalous dispersion is a general feature of polarized modes propagating through chiral plasmas extending our result to the electromagnetic sector.