Abstract
On January 14, 2019, the Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov telescopes detected GRB 190114C above 0.2 TeV, recording the most energetic photons ever observed from a gamma-ray burst. We use this unique observation to probe an energy dependence of the speed of light in vacuo for photons as predicted by several quantum gravity models. Based on a set of assumptions on the possible intrinsic spectral and temporal evolution, we obtain competitive lower limits on the quadratic leading order of speed of light modification.
- Received 28 January 2020
- Revised 20 April 2020
- Accepted 4 June 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.021301
© 2020 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
synopsis
Gamma Rays Provide New Quantum Gravity Constraint
Published 9 July 2020
An analysis of the speed of the most energetic photons ever observed from a gamma-ray burst sets new constraints on certain theories of quantum gravity.
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