Journal
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
Volume 402, Issue 2, Pages 409-424Publisher
EDP SCIENCES S A
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20030263
Keywords
distance scale; gamma ray : bursts; methods : statistical
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
In some models of quantum gravity, space-time is thought to have a foamy structure with non-trivial optical properties. We probe the possibility that photons propagating in vacuum may exhibit a non-trivial refractive index, by analyzing the times of flight of radiation from gamma-ray bursters (GRBs) with known redshifts. We use a wavelet shrinkage procedure for noise removal and a wavelet zoom technique to define with high accuracy the timings of sharp transitions in GRB light curves, thereby optimizing the sensitivity of experimental probes of any energy dependence of the velocity of light. We apply these wavelet techniques to 64 ms and TTE data from BATSE, and also to OSSE data. A search for time lags between sharp transients in GRB light curves in different energy bands yields the lower limit M greater than or equal to 6.9 x 10(15) GeV on the quantum-gravity scale in any model with a linear dependence of the velocity of light proportional to E/M. We also present a limit on any quadratic dependence.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available