Limits on Lorentz invariance violation at the Planck energy scale from H.E.S.S. spectral analysis of the blazar Mrk 501

TL;DR

This study uses H.E.S.S. observations of blazar Mrk 501 to set stringent limits on Lorentz invariance violation at the Planck scale by analyzing deviations in high-energy gamma-ray spectra.

Contribution

It provides the first strong observational constraints on LIV effects at the Planck energy scale using TeV gamma-ray spectra from an extragalactic source.

Findings

Established the most stringent limits on LIV at the Planck scale for linear perturbations.

Placed the strongest constraints on quadratic LIV perturbations.

Demonstrated the sensitivity of TeV gamma-ray spectra to fundamental physics.

Abstract

Some extensions to the Standard Model lead to the introduction of Lorentz symmetry breaking terms, expected to induce deviations from Lorentz symmetry around the Planck scale. A parameterization of effects due to Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) can be introduced by adding an effective term to the photon dispersion relation. This affects the kinematics of electron-positron pair creation by TeV $\gamma$ rays on the extragalactic background light (EBL) and translates into modifications of the standard EBL opacity for the TeV photon spectra of extragalactic sources. Exclusion limits are presented, obtained with the spectral analysis of H.E.S.S. observations taken on the blazar Mrk 501 during the exceptional 2014 flare. The energy spectrum, extending very significantly above 10 TeV, allows to place strong limits on LIV in the photon sector at the level of the Planck energy scale for linear perturbations in the photon dispersion relation, and provides the strongest constraints presently for the case of quadratic perturbations.