SPACE–TIME FOAM MAY VIOLATE THE PRINCIPLE OF EQUIVALENCE
- ELLIS, JOHN Department of Physics, CERN Theory Division, 1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland
- MAVROMATOS, NICK E. Departamento de Física Téorica, Universidad de Valencia, Valencia, Burjassot E-46100, Spain
- NANOPOULOS, DIMITRI V. Division of Natural Sciences, Academy of Athens, Athens, 28 Panepistimiou Avenue 10679, Greece
- SAKHAROV, ALEXANDER S. INFN Laboratory Nazionali del Gran Sasso, SS. 17bis 67010 Assergi (L'Aquila), Italy
- 2012-1-25
Published in:
- International Journal of Modern Physics A. - World Scientific Pub Co Pte Lt. - 2004, vol. 19, no. 26, p. 4413-4430
English
The interactions of different particle species with the foamy space–time fluctuations expected in quantum gravity theories may not be universal, in which case different types of energetic particles may violate Lorentz invariance by varying amounts, violating the equivalence principle. We illustrate this possibility in two different models of space–time foam based on D-particle fluctuations in either flat Minkowski space or a stack of intersecting D-branes. Both models suggest that Lorentz invariance could be violated for energetic particles that do not carry conserved charges, such as photons, whereas charged particles such electrons would propagate in a Lorentz-inavariant way. The D-brane model further suggests that gluon propagation might violate Lorentz invariance, but not neutrinos. We argue that these conclusions hold at both the tree (lowest-genus) and loop (higher-genus) levels, and discuss their implications for the phenomenology of quantum gravity.
- Language
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- English
- Open access status
- green
- Identifiers
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- DOI 10.1142/s0217751x04019780
- ISSN 0217-751X
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/15942
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