Constraints on Lorentz Invariance Violation using INTEGRAL/IBIS observations of GRB041219A

TL;DR

This paper uses polarization measurements of GRB 041219A to significantly tighten constraints on Lorentz invariance violation, testing fundamental physics through astrophysical observations.

Contribution

It provides the first four-order-of-magnitude improvement in constraints on Lorentz invariance violation via gamma-ray burst polarization data.

Findings

Enhanced constraints on Lorentz invariance violation by four orders of magnitude.

Demonstrated the effectiveness of polarization measurements in testing fundamental physics.

Confirmed the high degree of polarization in GRB 041219A's prompt emission.

Abstract

One of the experimental tests of Lorentz invariance violation is to measure the helicity dependence of the propagation velocity of photons originating in distant cosmological obejcts. Using a recent determination of the distance of the Gamma-Ray Burst GRB 041219A, for which a high degree of polarization is observed in the prompt emission, we are able to improve by 4 orders of magnitude the existing constraint on Lorentz invariance violation, arising from the phenomenon of vacuum birefringence.