Related papers: High-Energy gamma-ray Astronomy and String Theory
Quantum Mechanics of photons leads to a theory of Quantum Gravity that nicely matches the experimental results of varying fine structure constant,obtained from many-multiplet Quaser absorption systems and atomic clocks.The variation of that…
Fermi/LAT has detected long-lasting high-energy photons (>100 MeV) from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), with the highest energy photons reaching about 100 GeV. One proposed scenario is that they are produced by high-energy electrons accelerated in…
Despite more than fifty years of gamma-ray burst (GRB) observations, several questions regarding the origin of the prompt emission, particularly at high energies, remain unresolved. We present a comprehensive analysis of 35 GRBs observed by…
Various approaches to quantum gravity suggest the possibility of violation of Lorentz symmetry at very high energies. In these cases we expect a modification at low energies of the dispersion relation of photons that contains extra powers…
Possible Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) has been investigated for a long time based on observations of GRBs . These arguments relied on the assumption that photons with different energy are emitted at the same place and time. In this…
Spacetime is foamy due to quantum fluctuations. Various gedanken experiments show that distances fluctuate by amounts consistent with the holographic principle, hence the name "holographic quantum foam" (HQF). One important prediction of…
A cosmological origin of the magnetic fields in large scale structures of the Universe would require a non-negligible magnetic field in cosmic voids, which, however, remains undetected. Gamma-ray emission from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) offers…
With its excellent sensitivity, large field of view, broad energy coverage, and good per-photon angular resolution, the Large Area Telescope aboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope satellite provides us with an unprecedented view of the…
Historically cosmic rays have always been at the intersection of astrophysics with particle physics. This is still and especially true in current days where experimenters routinely observe atmospheric showers from particles whose energies…
It is postulated in Einstein's relativity that the speed of light in vacuum is a constant for all observers. However, the effect of quantum gravity could bring an energy dependence of light speed, and a series of studies on high-energy…
In many theoretical models of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and their afterglows, the emission of photons above 100 GeV is predicted. The Large Area Telescope (LAT) on-board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has detected delayed, high-energy…
It has been recently observed that small violations of Lorentz invariance, of a type which may arise in quantum gravity, could explain both the observations of cosmic rays above the GZK cutoff and the observations of 20-TeV gamma rays from…
The effect of Quantum Gravity (QG) may bring a tiny light speed variation as $v(E)=c(1-E/E_{\rm LV})$, where $E$ is the photon energy and $E_{\rm LV}$ is a Lorentz violation scale. A remarkable regularity was suggested in previous studies…
The bright long gamma-ray burst GRB 141207A was observed by the {\it Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope} and detected by both instruments onboard. The observations show that the spectrum in the prompt phase is not well described by the…
We argue that quantum-gravitational fluctuations in the space-time background give the vacuum non-trivial optical properties that include diffusion and consequent uncertainties in the arrival times of photons, causing stochastic…
If spacetime undergoes quantum fluctuations, an electromagnetic wavefront will acquire uncertainties in direction as well as phase as it propagates through spacetime. These uncertainties can show up in interferometric observations of…
The temporal--spectral evolution of the prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is simulated numerically for both leptonic and hadronic models. For weak enough magnetic fields, leptonic models can reproduce the few seconds delay of the…
Gamma-ray burst GRB221009A was of unprecedented brightness in gamma-rays and X-rays, and through to the far ultraviolet, allowing for identification within a host galaxy at redshift z=0.151 by multiple space and ground-based…
The observations of photons from the BL Lac object Mk501 with energies above 10 TeV and of cosmic rays with energies above the GZK threshold appear to be inconsistent with conventional theories. Remarkably, among the recent new-physics…
Lorentz invariance violation in photons can be quantified by measuring the difference in arrival times between high- and low-energy photons originating from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). When analyzing data, it is crucial to consider the…