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Title: Relative locality and the soccer ball problem

Journal Article · · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields
 [1]; ;  [2];  [3]
  1. Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita La Sapienza and Sez. Roma1 INFN, P.le Moro 2, 00185 Roma (Italy)
  2. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, 31 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, Ontario N2J 2Y5 (Canada)
  3. Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Wroclaw, Pl. Maxa Borna 9, 50-204 Wroclaw (Poland)

We consider the behavior of macroscopic bodies within the framework of relative locality [G. Amelino-Camelia, L. Freidel, J. Kowalski-Glikman, and L. Smolin, arXiv:1101.0931]. This is a recent proposal for Planck scale modifications of the relativistic dynamics of particles which are described as arising from deformations in the geometry of momentum space. We consider and resolve a common objection against such proposals, which is that, even if the corrections are small for elementary particles in current experiments, they are huge when applied to composite systems such as soccer balls, planets, and stars, with energies E{sub macro} much larger than M{sub P}. We show that this soccer ball problem does not arise within the framework of relative locality because the nonlinear effects for the dynamics of a composite system with N elementary particles appear at most of order E{sub macro}/N{center_dot}M{sub P}.

OSTI ID:
21607974
Journal Information:
Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 84, Issue 8; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.84.087702; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2821
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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