Beyond special relativity and the notion of spacetime

TL;DR

This thesis explores doubly special relativity as a low-energy limit of quantum gravity, examining its implications for spacetime structure, particle interactions, and potential experimental observations of quantum gravity effects.

Contribution

It introduces new connections between deformed relativistic models, a novel noncommutative spacetime, and extended geometrical frameworks, advancing understanding of quantum gravity phenomenology.

Findings

Deformed composition laws lead to nonlocal spacetime features.

A new noncommutative spacetime model makes interactions local.

Possible photon time delays depend on spacetime commutativity.

Abstract

In this Ph.D. thesis several topics in doubly special relativity are explored. The starting point of this theory is very different from other perspectives: it is not a fundamental theory, but it is considered a low energy limit of a quantum gravity theory that tries to study its possible residual elements. In particular, in doubly special relativity the Einstenian relativity principle is generalized, adding to the speed of light $c$ another relativistic invariant, the Planck length $l_p$. This idea can really have possible experimental observations, giving place to what is known as quantum gravity phenomenology. On the other hand, doubly special relativity implies the existence of deformed composition laws for energy and momentum, which leads to a spacetime with nonlocal ingredients, an element that also appears in other approaches of quantum gravity. In particular in this thesis we consider: the role that the changes of momentum variables play in a deformed relativistic kinematics; a novel connection between the $\kappa$-Poincar\'e model and a curved momentum space; a new spacetime, which turns out to be noncommutative, making the interactions local; the possible time delay in the flight of photons as a consequence of a deformed kinematics, depending on whether observables are defined on a commutative or on a noncommutative spacetime; some computations in quantum field theory with a simple ansatz for the modified Feynman rules corresponding to a particle process; the generalization of the geometrical approach for a curved spacetime.