Testing general relativity on accelerators
Abstract
Within the general theory of relativity, the curvature of spacetime is related to the energy and momentum of the present matter and radiation. One of the more specific predictions of general relativity is the deflection of light and particle trajectories in the gravitational field of massive objects. Bending angles for electromagnetic waves and light in particular were measured with a high precision. However, the effect of gravity on relativistic massive particles was never studied experimentally. Here we propose and analyze experiments devoted to that purpose. We demonstrate a high sensitivity of the laser Compton scattering at high energy accelerators to the effects of gravity. The main observable – maximal energy of the scattered photons – would experience a significant shift in the ambient gravitational field even for otherwise negligible violation of the equivalence principle. In conclusion, we confirm predictions of general relativity for ultrarelativistic electrons of energy of tens of GeV at a current level of resolution and expect our work to be a starting point of further high-precision studies on current and future accelerators, such as PETRA, European XFEL and ILC.
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Stony Brook Univ., Stony Brook, NY (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1214242
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1241134
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FG-88ER40388; FG02-88ER40388
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Physics Letters B
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Physics Letters B Journal Volume: 750 Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0370-2693
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- Netherlands
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
Citation Formats
Kalaydzhyan, Tigran. Testing general relativity on accelerators. Netherlands: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2015.09.004.
Kalaydzhyan, Tigran. Testing general relativity on accelerators. Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2015.09.004
Kalaydzhyan, Tigran. Sun .
"Testing general relativity on accelerators". Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2015.09.004.
@article{osti_1214242,
title = {Testing general relativity on accelerators},
author = {Kalaydzhyan, Tigran},
abstractNote = {Within the general theory of relativity, the curvature of spacetime is related to the energy and momentum of the present matter and radiation. One of the more specific predictions of general relativity is the deflection of light and particle trajectories in the gravitational field of massive objects. Bending angles for electromagnetic waves and light in particular were measured with a high precision. However, the effect of gravity on relativistic massive particles was never studied experimentally. Here we propose and analyze experiments devoted to that purpose. We demonstrate a high sensitivity of the laser Compton scattering at high energy accelerators to the effects of gravity. The main observable – maximal energy of the scattered photons – would experience a significant shift in the ambient gravitational field even for otherwise negligible violation of the equivalence principle. In conclusion, we confirm predictions of general relativity for ultrarelativistic electrons of energy of tens of GeV at a current level of resolution and expect our work to be a starting point of further high-precision studies on current and future accelerators, such as PETRA, European XFEL and ILC.},
doi = {10.1016/j.physletb.2015.09.004},
journal = {Physics Letters B},
number = C,
volume = 750,
place = {Netherlands},
year = {Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2015.09.004
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