ICECUBE NEUTRINOS AND LORENTZ INVARIANCE VIOLATION

Journal Article · Sat Jun 20 04:00:00 EDT 2015 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/806/2/269· OSTI ID:22522243

Amelino-Camelia, Giovanni ^[1]; Guetta, D. ^[2]; Piran, Tsvi ^[3]

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1. Dipartimento di Fisica, Sapienza Università di Roma and INFN, Sez. Roma1, P.le A. Moro 2, I-00185 Roma (Italy)
2. Osservatorio astronomico di Roma, v. Frascati 33, I-00040 Monte Porzio Catone (Italy)
3. The Racah Institute for Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904 (Israel)

The IceCube neutrino telescope has found so far no evidence of gamma-ray burst (GRB) neutrinos. We here notice that these results assume the same travel times from source to telescope for neutrinos and photons, an assumption that is challenged by some much-studied pictures of spacetime quantization. We briefly review previous results suggesting that limits on quantum-spacetime effects obtained for photons might not be applicable to neutrinos, and we then observe that the outcome of GRB-neutrino searches could depend strongly on whether one allows for neutrinos to be affected by the minute effects of Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) predicted by some relevant quantum-spacetime models. We discuss some relevant issues using as an illustrative example three neutrinos that were detected by IceCube in good spatial coincidence with GRBs, but hours before the corresponding gamma rays. In general, this could happen if the earlier arrival reflects quantum-spacetime-induced LIV, but, as we stress, some consistency criteria must be enforced in order to properly test such a hypothesis. Our analysis sets the stage for future GRB-neutrino searches that could systematically test the possibility of quantum-spacetime-induced LIV.

• OSTI ID: 22522243
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 806; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
COSMIC GAMMA BURSTS
COSMIC NEUTRINOS
COSMIC PHOTONS
GAMMA RADIATION
HYPOTHESIS
LORENTZ INVARIANCE
QUANTIZATION
SPACE-TIME
STRESSES
TELESCOPES