Gamma and Cosmic-Ray Tests of Special Relativity

Abstract

Lorentz symmetry violation (LSV) at Planck scale can be tested (see e.g. physics/0003080) through ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR). In a deformed Lorentz symmetry (DLS) pattern where the effective LSV parameter varies like the square of the momentum scale (quadratically deformed relativistic kinematics, QDRK), a 10E-6 LSV at Planck scale would be enough to produce observable effects on the properties of cosmic rays at the 10E20 eV scale: absence of GZK cutoff, stability of unstable particles, lower interaction rates, kinematical failure of any parton model and of standard formulae for Lorentz contraction and time dilation... Its phenomenological implications are compatible with existing data. If the effective LSV parameter is taken to vary linearly with the momentum scale (linearly deformed relativistic kinematics, LDRK), a LSV at Planck scale larger than 10E-7 eV seems to lead to contradictions with data above TeV energies. Consequences are important for high-energy gamma-ray experiments, as well as for high-energy cosmic rays and gravitational waves.