A Bayesian Framework to Constrain the Photon Mass with a Catalog of Fast Radio Bursts

Understand

A hypothetical photon mass, $m_\gamma$, gives an energy-dependent light speed in a Lorentz-invariant theory.

• Such a modification causes an additional time delay between photons of different energies when they travel through a fixed distance.
• Fast radio bursts (FRBs), with their short time duration and cosmological propagation distance, are excellent astrophysical objects to constrain $m_\gamma$.
• Here for the first time we develop a Bayesian framework to study this problem with a catalog of FRBs.