Luca Bonetti
(Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers en région Centre, UMS 3116, Université d'Orléans, 1A rue de la Férollerie, 45071 Orléans, France)
John Ellis
(Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology Group, Physics Department, King's College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom)
Nikolaos E. Mavromatos
(Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology Group, Physics Department, King's College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom)
Alexander S. Sakharov
(Department of Physics, New York University, 4 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003, United States)
Edward K. Sarkisyan-Grinbaum
(Experimental Physics Department, CERN, CH-1211 Genève 23, Switzerland)
Alessandro D.A.M. Spallicci
(Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers en région Centre, UMS 3116, Université d'Orléans, 1A rue de la Férollerie, 45071 Orléans, France)
Journal: Physics Letters B
•
• Elsevier
• ISSN: 0370-2693
Abstract
The photon mass, mγ, can in principle be constrained using measurements of the dispersion measures (DMs) of fast radio bursts (FRBs), once the FRB redshifts are known. The DM of the repeating FRB 121102 is known to <1%, a host galaxy has now been identified with high confidence, and its redshift, z, has now been determined with high accuracy: z=0.19273(8). Taking into account the plasma contributions to the DM from the Intergalactic medium (IGM) and the Milky Way, we use the data on FRB 121102 to derive the constraint mγ≲2.2×10−14 eVc−2 (3.9×10−50 kg). Since the plasma and photon mass contributions to DMs have different redshift dependences, they could in principle be distinguished by measurements of more FRB redshifts, enabling the sensitivity to mγ to be improved.
Luca Bonetti, John Ellis, Nikolaos E. Mavromatos, et al. (2017). "FRB 121102 casts new light on the photon mass". Physics Letters B. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2017.03.014