DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17500791
title: Rotation Field of the Cosmic Microwave Background — MASTER-Calibrated Dipole and Anisotropic Cosmic Birefringence (v1.4): Part of the "22 Blue" Research Series on Large-Scale Parity Violation and Cosmic Birefringence

description:  

Rotation Field α(ℓ) — v1.4 (MASTER-validated calibration)

 

 

This dataset presents the fully calibrated large-scale rotation field α(ℓ) derived from Planck 2018 polarization data.

The analysis confirms a coherent dipole pattern in the cosmic birefringence signal, showing that the CMB’s linear polarization is rotated in a directional and scale-dependent way across the sky.

 

The rotation field α(ℓ) quantifies the polarization-angle rotation of the cosmic microwave background, revealing a small but statistically significant parity-violating component in the Universe.

Using EB cross-spectra from the SMICA and NILC component-separated Planck maps over multipoles ℓ = 500–1500, the field was decomposed into spherical-harmonic coefficients αₗₘ for L ≤ 10.

The dominant dipole (L = 1) points toward Galactic (ℓ, b) ≈ (278°, 18°), consistent across both component-separation methods.

 

Version 1.4 applies full MASTER deconvolution to the α–α angular-power spectrum, confirming that the rotation pattern and power distribution are robust to masking and calibration effects.

The alignment of results across methods, frequencies, and half-mission splits establishes the birefringence field as a genuine feature of the Planck polarization data rather than a systematic artifact.

 

The large-scale dipole and its harmonic structure demonstrate that cosmic birefringence is anisotropic, not isotropic—suggesting the presence of a slowly varying field that couples to photons and breaks mirror symmetry on cosmological scales.

This behavior matches theoretical predictions of pseudoscalar (axion-like) fields that rotate the polarization of light through a cosmological potential gradient.

 

 

 

 

Relation to the 

22 Blue

 Research Series

 

 

The 22 Blue research series comprises a progressive set of Zenodo datasets documenting the discovery, validation, and verification of cosmic birefringence in Planck 2018 polarization data:

 



v 1.0 (Sep 20 2025; DOI 10.5281/zenodo.17167268): Identified coherent harmonic phase alignments in the CMB polarization field.

v 1.0 (Oct 10 2025; DOI 10.5281/zenodo.17317397): Reported the first quantitative detection of a scale-dependent and anisotropic cosmic birefringence signal (8.5 σ isotropic + 4–5 σ directional).

v 1.1 (Oct 20 2025; DOI 10.5281/zenodo.17396428): Added full statistical validation and reproducibility materials (TB/EB diagnostics, covariance checks).

v 1.2 (Oct 21 2025; DOI 10.5281/zenodo.17410764): Introduced the two-harmonic extension (Δℓ ≈ 180 and 360 periodicity).

v 1.3 (Oct 28 2025; DOI 10.5281/zenodo.17468988): Completed verification and robustness tests (calibration, simulation, injection/recovery).

Harvard Dataverse v 1 (Oct 20 2025) and v 2 (Oct 29 2025; DOI 10.7910/DVN/PTDG20): Provide long-term institutional mirrors of the verified datasets.


 

 

Together these releases form a transparent, end-to-end archive of the discovery and verification process for the CMB polarization-rotation phenomenon known as

“22 Blue — The Heartbeat of the Universe.”

 

 

 

 

Contents

 

 



Combined SMICA + NILC αₗₘ maps (L ≤ 10)

MASTER-calibrated α–α power spectrum

Calibration, null, and robustness tests (mask, frequency, half-mission, linearity)

Reproducibility scripts and figures


 

 

 

 

Created by Amy Condit (22 Blue) — an independent cosmology project investigating large-scale parity violation and anisotropic cosmic birefringence in the CMB.