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γ-ray polarization constraints on Planck scale violations of special relativity

Luca Maccione, Stefano Liberati, and Annalisa Celotti

John G. Kirk

Pietro Ubertini

  • SISSA/ISAS, via Beirut 2-4, 34014, Trieste, and INFN, Sezione di Trieste, via Valerio, 2, 34127 Trieste, Italy

  • Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg, 1, D-69117, Heidelberg, Germany

  • IASF-INAF, via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, Roma, Italy

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Phys. Rev. D 78, 103003 – Published 5 November, 2008

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.78.103003

Abstract

Using recent polarimetric observations of the Crab Nebula in the hard X-ray band by INTEGRAL, we show that the absence of vacuum birefringence effects constrains O(E/M) Lorentz violation in QED to the level |ξ|<9×10−10 at 3σ CL, tightening by more than 3 orders of magnitude previous constraints. We show that planned X-ray polarimeters have the potential to probe |ξ|∼10−16 by detecting polarization in active galaxies at red-shift ∼1.

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Phys. Rev. D 78, 103003– Published 5 November, 2008
  • Received 31 August 2008

© 2008 American Physical Society

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