Exploring Quantum Gravity with Very-High-Energy Gamma-Ray Instruments - Prospects and Limitations
- Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik, D-80805 Muenchen (Germany)
Some models for quantum gravity (QG) violate Lorentz invariance and predict an energy dependence of the speed of light, leading to a dispersion of high-energy gamma-ray signals that travel over cosmological distances. Limits on the dispersion from short-duration substructures observed in gamma-rays emitted by gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) at cosmological distances have provided interesting bounds on Lorentz invariance violation (LIV). Recent observations of unprecedentedly fast flares in the very-high energy gamma-ray emission of the active galactic nuclei (AGNs) Mkn 501 in 2005 and PKS 2155-304 in 2006 resulted in the most constraining limits on LIV from light-travel observations, approaching the Planck mass scale, at which QG effects are assumed to become important. I review the current status of LIV searches using GRBs and AGN flare events, and discuss limitations of light-travel time analyses and prospects for future instruments in the gamma-ray domain.
- OSTI ID:
- 21293537
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1112, Issue 1; Conference: 6. workshop on high energy gamma-ray experiments: Bridging the gap between GeV and TeV, Abano Terme (Italy), 8-10 Oct 2008; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3125781; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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