Gamma-ray and Cosmic-ray Tests of Lorentz Invariance Violation and Quantum Gravity Models and Their Implications

Understand

The topic of Lorentz invariance violation is a fundamental question in physics that has taken on particular interest in theoretical explorations of quantum gravity scenarios.

• I discuss various gamma-ray observations that give limits on predicted potential effects of Lorentz invariance violation.
• Among these are spectral data from ground based observations of the multi-TeV gamma-rays from nearby AGN, INTEGRAL detections of polarized soft gamma-rays from the vicinity of the Crab pulsar, Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope studies of photon propagation timing from gamma-ray bursts, and Auger data on the spectrum of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays.
• These results can be used to seriously constrain or rule out some models involving Planck scale physics.