Gravitational attraction of ultra-relativistic matter: A new testbed for modified gravity at the Large Hadron Collider

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel method to test modified gravity theories using ultrarelativistic particle beams at the Large Hadron Collider, by analyzing the gravitational effects on nearby sensors.

Contribution

It derives the scalar-tensor gravity field of an ultrarelativistic beam and suggests using accelerator-based experiments to detect deviations from general relativity.

Findings

Significant differences in momentum transfer between GR and scalar-tensor gravity at high velocities.

Potential for collider experiments to constrain or detect modified gravity effects.

Ultrarelativistic beams can serve as a new testbed for gravitational theories.

Abstract

We derive the scalar-tensor modification of the gravitational field of an ultrarelativistic particle beam and its effect on a test particle that is used as sensor. To do so, we solve the linearized scalar-tensor gravity field equations sourced by an energy-momentum tensor of a moving point particle. The geodesic equation and the geodesic deviation equation then predict the acceleration of the test particle as well as the momentum transfer due to a passing source. Comparing the momentum transfer predicted by general relativity and scalar tensor gravity, we find that there exists a relevant parameter regime where this difference increases significantly with the velocity of the source particle. Since ultrarelativistic particles are available at accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider, ultraprecise acceleration sensors in the vicinity of the particle beam could potentially detect deviations from general relativity or constrain modified gravity models.