Constraints on Extra-Dimensions and Variable Constants from Cosmological Gamma-Ray Bursts |
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Authors: | T Harko K S Cheng |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Physics, University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam Road, Hong Kong |
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Abstract: | The observation of the time delay between the soft emission and the high-energy radiation from cosmological gamma ray bursts
can be used as an important observational test of multi-dimensional physical theories. The main source of the time delay is
the variation of the electromagnetic coupling, due to dimensional reduction, which induces an energy dependence of the speed
of light. For photons with energies around 1 TeV, the time delay could range from a few seconds in the case of Kaluza–Klein
models to a few days for models with large extra-dimensions. Based on these results we suggest that the detection of the 18-GeV
photon ∼4500 s after the keV/MeV burst in GRB 940217 provides a strong evidence for the existence of extra-dimensions. The
time delay of photons, if observed by the next generation of high energy detectors, like, for example, the SWIFT and GLAST
satellite based detectors, or the VERITAS ground-based TeV gamma-ray instrument, could differentiate between the different
models with extra-dimensions. |
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Keywords: | cosmology-extra-dimensions gamma rays bursts-radiation mechanisms photon delay |
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