Constraining Lorentz Invariance Violation Using the Crab Pulsar Emission Observed up to TeV Energies by MAGIC
- ETH Zurich, CH-8093 Zurich (Switzerland)
- Università di Udine, and INFN Trieste, I-33100 Udine (Italy)
- INAF—National Institute for Astrophysics, I-00136 Rome (Italy)
- Università di Padova and INFN, I-35131 Padova (Italy)
- Croatian MAGIC Consortium: University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, University of Split — FESB, 21000 Split, University of Zagreb — FER, 10000 Zagreb, University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek and Rudjer Boskovic Institute, 10000 Zagreb (Croatia)
- Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, HBNI, 1/AF Bidhannagar, Salt Lake, Sector-1, Kolkata 700064 (India)
- Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, D-80805 München (Germany)
- Universidad Complutense, E-28040 Madrid (Spain)
- Inst. de Astrofísica de Canarias, E-38200 La Laguna and Universidad de La Laguna, Dpto. Astrofísica, E-38206 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain)
- University of Łódź, Department of Astrophysics, PL-90236 Łódź (Poland)
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), D-15738 Zeuthen (Germany)
- University of Trieste and INFN Trieste, I-34127 Trieste (Italy)
Spontaneous breaking of Lorentz symmetry at energies on the order of the Planck energy or lower is predicted by many quantum gravity theories, implying non-trivial dispersion relations for the photon in vacuum. Consequently, gamma-rays of different energies, emitted simultaneously from astrophysical sources, could accumulate measurable differences in their time of flight until they reach the Earth. Such tests have been carried out in the past using fast variations of gamma-ray flux from pulsars, and more recently from active galactic nuclei and gamma-ray bursts. We present new constraints studying the gamma-ray emission of the galactic Crab Pulsar, recently observed up to TeV energies by the Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) collaboration. A profile likelihood analysis of pulsar events reconstructed for energies above 400 GeV finds no significant variation in arrival time as their energy increases. Ninety-five percent CL limits are obtained on the effective Lorentz invariance violating energy scale at the level of E{sub QG{sub 1}}>5.5×10{sup 17} GeV (4.5×10{sup 17} GeV) for a linear, and E{sub QG{sub 2}}>5.9×10{sup 10} GeV (5.3×10{sup 10} GeV) for a quadratic scenario, for the subluminal and the superluminal cases, respectively. A substantial part of this study is dedicated to calibration of the test statistic, with respect to bias and coverage properties. Moreover, the limits take into account systematic uncertainties, which are found to worsen the statistical limits by about 36%–42%. Our constraints would have been much more stringent if the intrinsic pulse shape of the pulsar between 200 GeV and 400 GeV was understood in sufficient detail and allowed inclusion of events well below 400 GeV.
- OSTI ID:
- 22872554
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series, Vol. 232, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0067-0049
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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