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GRB 051221A and Tests of Lorentz Symmetry

Maria Rodriguez Martinez·Tsvi Piran·Yonatan Oren
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Abstract

Various approaches to quantum gravity suggest the possibility of violation of Lorentz symmetry at very high energies. In these cases we expect a modification at low energies of the dispersion relation of photons that contains extra powers of the momentum suppressed by a high energy scale. These terms break boost invariance and can be tested even at relatively low energies. We use the light curves of the very bright short Gamma-Ray Burst GRB 051221A and compare the arrival times of photons at different energies with the expected time delay due to a modified dispersion relation. As no time delay was observed, we set a lower bound of 0.0066 E_{pl} \sim 0.66 10^{17} GeV on the scale of Lorentz invariance violation.

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Maria Rodriguez Martinez, Tsvi Piran, Yonatan Oren. 2006-01-24. GRB 051221A and Tests of Lorentz Symmetry. https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516%2F2006%2F05%2F017

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