Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2007-08-21
Phys.Lett.B668:253-257,2008
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
12 pages, 3 figures, Phys. Lett. B, reflects published version
Scientific paper
10.1016/j.physletb.2008.08.053
We analyze the timing of photons observed by the MAGIC telescope during a flare of the active galactic nucleus Mkn 501 for a possible correlation with energy, as suggested by some models of quantum gravity (QG), which predict a vacuum refractive index \simeq 1 + (E/M_{QGn})^n, n = 1,2. Parametrizing the delay between gamma-rays of different energies as \Delta t =\pm\tau_l E or \Delta t =\pm\tau_q E^2, we find \tau_l=(0.030\pm0.012) s/GeV at the 2.5-sigma level, and \tau_q=(3.71\pm2.57)x10^{-6} s/GeV^2, respectively. We use these results to establish lower limits M_{QG1} > 0.21x10^{18} GeV and M_{QG2} > 0.26x10^{11} GeV at the 95% C.L. Monte Carlo studies confirm the MAGIC sensitivity to propagation effects at these levels. Thermal plasma effects in the source are negligible, but we cannot exclude the importance of some other source effect.
Ellis John
et Albert J. al.
Mavromatos Nick E.
Nanopoulos Dimitri V.
Sakharov Alexander S.
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