CERN Accelerating science

Article
Report number	arXiv:1701.03097 ; KCL-PH-TH-2017-01 ; CERN-TH-2017-007
Title	FRB 121102 Casts New Light on the Photon Mass
Related title	FRB 121102 Casts New Light on the Photon Mass
Author(s)	Bonetti, Luca (Orleans U. ; LPC2E, Orleans) ; Ellis, John (King's Coll. London ; CERN) ; Mavromatos, Nikolaos E. (King's Coll. London ; CERN) ; Sakharov, Alexander S. (New York U. ; Manhattan Coll., Riverdale ; CERN) ; Sarkisyan-Grinbaum, Edward K. (CERN ; Texas U., Arlington) ; Spallicci, Alessandro D. A. M. (Orleans U. ; LPC2E, Orleans)
Publication	2017-05-10
Imprint	2017-01-11
Number of pages	4
Note	9 pages, 1 figure, version to appear in PLB
In:	Phys. Lett. B 768 (2017) 326-329
DOI	10.1016/j.physletb.2017.03.014
Subject category	hep-ph ; Particle Physics - Phenomenology ; hep-ex ; Particle Physics - Experiment ; astro-ph.CO ; Astrophysics and Astronomy ; astro-ph.HE ; Astrophysics and Astronomy
Abstract	The photon mass, $m_\gamma$, 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 $m_\gamma \lesssim 2.2 \times 10^{-14}$ eV c$^{-2}$ ($3.9 \times 10^{-50}$ 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 $m_\gamma$ to be improved.
Copyright/License	arXiv nonexclusive-distrib. 1.0 publication: © 2017-2024 The Author(s) (License: CC-BY-4.0), sponsored by SCOAP³ preprint: © 2017-2024 CERN (License: CC-BY-4.0)

Corresponding record in: Inspire