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Phys. Rev. D 61, 027503 (1999) [4 pages]

Microscopic recoil model for light-cone fluctuations in quantum gravity

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John Ellis
Theory Division, CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland

N. E. Mavromatos
Department of Physics, University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3NP, United Kingdom
Theory Division, CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland

D. V. Nanopoulos
Department of Physics, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas 77843-4242;
Astroparticle Physics Group, Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), Mitchell Campus, Woodlands, Texas 77381;
Academy of Athens, Chair of Theoretical Physics, Division of Natural Sciences, 28 Panepistimiou Avenue, Athens 10679, Greece

Received 11 June 1999; published 23 December 1999

We present a microscopic model for light-cone fluctuations in vacuo, which incorporates a treatment of quantum-gravitational recoil effects induced by energetic particles. Treating defects in space-time as solitons in string theory, we derive an energy-dependent refractive index and a stochastic spread in the arrival times of mono-energetic photons due to quantum diffusion through space-time foam, as found previously using an effective Born-Infeld action. Distant astrophysical sources provide sensitive tests of these possible quantum-gravitational phenomena.

© 1999 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevD.61.027503
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevD.61.027503
PACS:
04.60.-m, 04.62.+v, 11.25.-w
 
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