Abstract
We present a microscopic model for light-cone fluctuations in vacuo, which incorporates a treatment of quantum-gravitational recoil effects induced by energetic particles. Treating defects in space-time as solitons in string theory, we derive an energy-dependent refractive index and a stochastic spread in the arrival times of mono-energetic photons due to quantum diffusion through space-time foam, as found previously using an effective Born-Infeld action. Distant astrophysical sources provide sensitive tests of these possible quantum-gravitational phenomena.
- Received 11 June 1999
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.61.027503
©1999 American Physical Society