| 1. |
- Abdo, A. A., et al.
(författare)
-
A limit on the variation of the speed of light arising from quantum gravity effects
- 2009
-
Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 462:7271, s. 331-334
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A cornerstone of Einstein’s special relativity is Lorentz invariance—the postulate that all observers measure exactly the same speed of light in vacuum, independent of photon-energy. While special relativity assumes that there is no fundamental length-scale associated with such invariance, there is a fundamental scale (the Planck scale, lPlanck~1.62×10-33cm or EPlanck = MPlanckc2~1.22×1019GeV), at which quantum effects are expected to strongly affect the nature of space–time. There is great interest in the (not yet validated) idea that Lorentz invariance might break near the Planck scale. A key test of such violation of Lorentz invariance is a possible variation of photon speed with energy. Even a tiny variation in photon speed, when accumulated over cosmological light-travel times, may be revealed by observing sharp features in γ-ray burst (GRB) light-curves. Here we report the detection of emission up to ~31GeV from the distant and short GRB090510. We find no evidence for the violation of Lorentz invariance, and place a lower limit of 1.2EPlanck on the scale of a linear energy dependence (or an inverse wavelength dependence), subject to reasonable assumptions about the emission (equivalently we have an upper limit of lPlanck/1.2 on the length scale of the effect). Our results disfavour quantum-gravity theories in which the quantum nature of space–time on a very small scale linearly alters the speed of light.
|
|
| 2. |
- Abdo, A. A., et al.
(författare)
-
Fermi Observations of High-energy Gamma-ray Emission from GRB 080825C
- 2009
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 707:1, s. 580-592
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has opened a new high-energy window in the study of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Here we present a thorough analysis of GRB 080825C, which triggered the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM), and was the first firm detection of a GRB by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). We discuss the LAT event selections, background estimation, significance calculations, and localization for Fermi GRBs in general and GRB 080825C in particular. We show the results of temporal and time-resolved spectral analysis of the GBM and LAT data. We also present some theoretical interpretation of GRB 080825C observations as well as some common features observed in other LAT GRBs.
|
|
| 3. |
- Soderberg, A. M., et al.
(författare)
-
Discovery of a Relativistic Supernova Without a Gamma-ray Trigger
- 2009
-
Annan publikation (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Type Ibc supernovae (SNe Ibc) mark the gravitational collapse of some massive stars (M > 20 Msun) propelling several solar masses of material to typical velocities of ~10,000 km/s. The closely-related but exceedingly rare class of long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) produce, in addition, a relativistic outflow powered by a central engine (accreting black hole or neutron star) and have been found exclusively through their gamma-ray signal. Here we report the discovery of luminous radio emission from the seemingly ordinary Type Ibc SN 2009bb which outshines that of all other SNe Ibc observed on a comparable timescale. These observations require a substantial mildly-relativistic outflow and indicate that the explosion was powered by a central engine, thus representing the first such event discovered without the aid of a gamma-ray trigger. A comparison with our extensive radio survey of SNe Ibc reveals that the fraction of such events is low (roughly 1 percent), measured independently from, and yet consistent with, the inferred rate of nearby GRBs. This discovery marks the observational realization that long-wavelength surveys will soon rival gamma-ray satellites in pinpointing nearby engine-driven explosions.
|
|
