A limit on the variation of the speed of light arising from quantum gravity effects

	A limit on the variation of the speed of light arising from quantum gravity effects
	Abdo, A. A.2,3; Ackermann, M.4,5; Ajello, M.4,5; Asano, K.6,7; Atwood, W. B.8,9; Axelsson, M.11,12; Baldini, L.14; Ballet, J.15; Barbiellini, G.16,17; Baring, M. G.18
刊名	NATURE
	2009-11-19
卷号	462 期号:7271 页码:331-334
关键词	GAMMA-RAY BURSTS HIGH-ENERGY VIOLATION EMISSION PHOTONS LORENTZ TESTS FOAM
ISSN号	0028-0836
英文摘要	A cornerstone of Einstein's special relativity is Lorentz invariance-the postulate that all observers measure exactly the same speed of light in vacuum, independent of photon-energy. While special relativity assumes that there is no fundamental length-scale associated with such invariance, there is a fundamental scale (the Planck scale, l(Planck) approximate to 1.62 x 10(-33) cm or E(Planck) = M(Planck)c(2) approximate to 1.22 x 10(19) GeV), at which quantum effects are expected to strongly affect the nature of space-time. There is great interest in the (not yet validated) idea that Lorentz invariance might break near the Planck scale. A key test of such violation of Lorentz invariance is a possible variation of photon speed with energy(1-7). Even a tiny variation in photon speed, when accumulated over cosmological light-travel times, may be revealed by observing sharp features in gamma-ray burst (GRB) light-curves(2). Here we report the detection of emission up to similar to 31GeV from the distant and short GRB090510. We find no evidence for the violation of Lorentz invariance, and place a lower limit of 1.2E(Planck) on the scale of a linear energy dependence (or an inverse wavelength dependence), subject to reasonable assumptions about the emission (equivalently we have an upper limit of l(Planck)/1.2 on the length scale of the effect). Our results disfavour quantum-gravity theories(3,6,7) in which the quantum nature of space-time on a very small scale linearly alters the speed of light.
学科主题	Science & Technology - Other Topics
WOS标题词	Science & Technology
类目[WOS]	Multidisciplinary Sciences
研究领域[WOS]	Science & Technology - Other Topics
关键词[WOS]	GAMMA-RAY BURSTS ; HIGH-ENERGY ; VIOLATION ; EMISSION ; PHOTONS ; LORENTZ ; TESTS ; FOAM
收录类别	SCI
语种	英语
WOS记录号	WOS:000271899300039
公开日期	2011-12-08
内容类型	期刊论文
源URL	[http://159.226.72.40/handle/332002/1713]
专题	紫金山天文台_南极天文中心
作者单位	1.Univ Hertfordshire, Ctr Astrophys Res, Hatfield AL10 9AB, Herts, England 2.USN, Res Lab, Div Space Sci, Washington, DC 20375 USA 3.Natl Acad Sci, Natl Res Council Res Associate, Washington, DC 20001 USA 4.Stanford Univ, Dept Phys, WW Hansen Expt Phys Lab, Kavli Inst Particle Astrophys & Cosmol, Stanford, CA 94305 USA 5.Stanford Univ, SLAC Natl Accelerator Lab, Stanford, CA 94305 USA 6.Tokyo Inst Technol, Dept Phys, Meguro, Tokyo 1528551, Japan 7.Tokyo Inst Technol, Interact Res Ctr Sci, Meguro, Tokyo 1528551, Japan 8.Univ Calif Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Inst Particle Phys, Dept Phys, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA 9.Univ Calif Santa Cruz, Dept Astron & Astrophys, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA 10.Univ Calif Santa Cruz, Univ Calif Observ, Lick Observ, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Abdo, A. A.,Ackermann, M.,Ajello, M.,et al. A limit on the variation of the speed of light arising from quantum gravity effects[J]. NATURE,2009,462(7271):331-334.
APA	Abdo, A. A..,Ackermann, M..,Ajello, M..,Asano, K..,Atwood, W. B..,...&Ziegler, M..(2009).A limit on the variation of the speed of light arising from quantum gravity effects.NATURE,462(7271),331-334.
MLA	Abdo, A. A.,et al."A limit on the variation of the speed of light arising from quantum gravity effects".NATURE 462.7271(2009):331-334.