Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2002-12-09
Nature 424:1019-1021,2003
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
12 pages. Presentation shortened and revised for letter to Nature. New title "A strong astrophysical constraint on the violati
Scientific paper
10.1038/nature01882
Special relativity asserts that physical phenomena appear the same for all inertially moving observers. This symmetry, called Lorentz symmetry, relates long wavelengths to short ones: if the symmetry is exact it implies that spacetime must look the same at all length scales. Several approaches to quantum gravity, however, suggest that there may be a Lorentz violating microscopic structure of spacetime, for example discreteness, non-commutativity, or extra dimensions. Here we determine a very strong constraint on a type of Lorentz violation that produces a maximum electron speed less than the speed of light. We use the observation of 100 MeV synchrotron radiation from the Crab nebula to improve the previous limits by a factor of 40 million, ruling out this type of Lorentz violation, and thereby providing an important constraint on theories of quantum gravity.
Jacobson Ted
Liberati Stefano
Mattingly David
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