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The speed of light remained constant during the most powerful cosmic explosion ever observed, according to Chinese scientists who tested Einstein’s theory of relativity, based on the world’s most sensitive high-energy photodetectors. It appears that it was maintained at
Their study, posted this month on the preprint platform arXiv but not yet peer-reviewed, argues that the universe is a symmetric place (also known as Lorentz symmetry, a pillar of Einstein’s special theory of relativity). It provides the latest evidence. Come up empty-handed looking for violations of this symmetry.
Nicholas Younes, a theoretical physicist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the US, said Lorentz violation was a phenomenon predicted by researchers aiming to develop a theory of quantum gravity that combines general relativity and quantum mechanics.
“If such a violation were discovered, it would be a breakthrough discovery that would shake the very foundations of physics,” Younes said. “No such violations have been identified to date.”
The Lasso team’s results impose the “strongest constraint” on such violations and suggest that linear-type Lorentz violations “probably do not actually exist in nature.” Mr. Younes said.
In Einstein’s theory of relativity, Lorentz symmetry states that an observer can see the same physical laws from any direction or frame of reference as long as the observed object is moving with a constant velocity .
China casts “One Belt, One Road” spell on world’s largest telescope project
China casts “One Belt, One Road” spell on world’s largest telescope project
As a result of Lorentz symmetry, people constantly observe that light travels at 300 million meters per second, whether driving down a highway or flying through space in a spaceship. The constant speed of light is a cornerstone of modern physics and forms the basis of our understanding of space and time.
All experiments performed so far have proven Lorentz symmetry. However, this rule may not hold true in extreme scenarios where tiny particles hurtle through the vastness of space with incredibly high energies and succumb to mysterious unknown forces.
Such forces may be very weak, but they increase with the particle’s energy and can accumulate to detectable levels over long distances traveled, the researchers wrote.
The Lhaaso collaboration, led by Beijing’s Institute of High Energy Physics and involving 280 participants from around the world, divided these photons into 10 groups according to their energy range and investigated the delay in arrival time. Ta.
The researchers analyzed the data based on two different methods and showed that the change in the speed of light at high energies is very limited. They found that the lower energy limit at which Lorentz breaking could occur would have been much higher than currently predicted.
In other words, the team found no conclusive evidence to support the theory that the speed of light changes at the observed energies, based on the detection of gamma-ray photons.
Younes said it was “particularly impressive” that the new study was able to suppress linear form violations at scales 10 times higher than the Planck scale, the unit that sets the minimum limits of the universe. Secondary-form violations were also suppressed “on a less impressive scale, but on a weaker scale,” he said.
Einstein probe: China launches powerful space X-ray observatory
Einstein probe: China launches powerful space X-ray observatory
Laaso was built by Chinese scientists at an altitude of 4,410 meters (14,470 feet) on Heizi Mountain in Dacheng County, Sichuan Province. It includes four types of detectors, including approximately 5,200 electromagnetic particle detectors, 1,200 muon detectors, 18 wide-field Cherenkov telescopes, and a 78,000 square meter (839,600 square foot) water Cherenkov detector array. It contains.
The facility was commissioned in 2021 and operates as the world’s most sensitive ultra-high energy gamma-ray detector.
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