Analog models for gravity in linear magnetoelectrics

Abstract: Formal analogies between gravitational and optical phenomena have been subject of study for over a century, leading to interesting scenarios for testing kinematic aspects of general relativity in terrestrial laboratories. Here, some aspects about analog models for gravity obtained from the analysis of light propagation in linear magnetoeletric media are examined. In particular, it is shown that this effect produces mixed time-space terms in the effective metric that depend only on the antisymmetric part of the generally non-symmetric magnetoelectric coefficient. Furthermore, it is shown that solutions presenting analog event horizons can be proposed in this scenario, provided that certain consistency conditions are satisfied. A short discussion comparing different ways of constructing analog models is also presented.