Gravitational holonomy in Sagnac interferometry

Puntos clave

• This research investigates how gravitational waves affect a Sagnac interferometer, including phase shifts and polarization changes.
• Analyzed the influence of gravitational waves on a Sagnac interferometer with two counter-propagating beams.
• Formulated additional phase shift contributions as gravitational holonomy related to the internal Lorentz group.
• Computed effects based on gravitational waves generated by a localized source at leading order in the inverse distance.
• Identified a new contribution to the Sagnac phase shift due to polarization rotation.
• The analysis shows that for freely falling observers, the standard phase shift is zero, emphasizing the significance of polarization rotation.

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