Lorentz violation from gamma-ray bursts

TL;DR

This paper investigates potential violations of Lorentz invariance by analyzing gamma-ray burst data, finding evidence that the speed of light may depend on photon energy, challenging fundamental physics assumptions.

Contribution

It introduces two scenarios explaining energy-dependent light speed based on gamma-ray burst observations, providing testable predictions for future experiments.

Findings

Support for energy dependence of light speed from GRB data

Both linear and quadratic Lorentz violation corrections are consistent with observations

Proposed scenarios offer testable predictions for future gamma-ray burst detections

Abstract

The constancy of light speed is a basic assumption in Einstein's special relativity, and consequently the Lorentz invariance is a fundamental symmetry of space-time in modern physics. However, it is speculated that the speed of light becomes energy-dependent due to the Lorentz invariance violation~(LV) in various new physics theories. We analyse the data of the energetic photons from the gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) by the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, and find more events to support the energy dependence in the light speed with both linear and quadratic form corrections. We provide two scenarios to understand all the new-released Pass~8 data of bright GRBs by the Fermi-LAT Collaboration, with predictions from such scenarios being testable by future detected GRBs.