Modifications to Lorentz invariant dispersion in relatively boosted frames

Uri Jacob, Flavio Mercati, Giovanni Amelino-Camelia, and Tsvi Piran
Phys. Rev. D 82, 084021 – Published 12 October 2010

Abstract

We investigate the implications of energy dependence of the speed of photons, one of the candidate effects of quantum-gravity theories that has been most studied recently, from the perspective of observations in different reference frames. We examine how a simultaneous burst of photons would be measured by two observers with a relative velocity, establishing some associated conditions for the consistency of theories. For scenarios where the Lorentz transformations remain valid, these consistency conditions allow us to characterize the violations of Lorentz symmetry through an explicit description of the modification of the quantum-gravity scale in boosted frames with respect to its definition in a preferred frame. When applied to relativistic scenarios with a deformation of Lorentz invariance that preserves the equivalence of inertial observers, we find an insightful characterization of the necessity to adopt in such frameworks nonclassical features of spacetime geometry, e.g. events that are at the same spacetime point for one observer cannot be considered at the same spacetime point for other observers. Our findings also suggest that, at least in principle (and perhaps one day even in practice), measurements of the dispersion of photons in relatively boosted frames can be particularly valuable for the purpose of testing these scenarios.

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  • Received 13 April 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.82.084021

© 2010 The American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Uri Jacob1,*, Flavio Mercati2,†, Giovanni Amelino-Camelia2,‡, and Tsvi Piran1,§

  • 1Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
  • 2Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma “La Sapienza” and Sezione Roma1 INFN, Piazzale Aldo Moro 2, 00185 Roma, Italy

  • *uriyada@phys.huji.ac.il
  • flavio.mercati@roma1.infn.it
  • amelino@roma1.infn.it
  • §tsvi@phys.huji.ac.il

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Issue

Vol. 82, Iss. 8 — 15 October 2010

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