Bayesian Framework to Constrain the Photon Mass with a Catalog of Fast Radio Bursts
Bayesian Framework to Constrain the Photon Mass with a Catalog of Fast Radio Bursts
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DOI：
10.1103/physrevd.95.123010
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发表时间：
2017-05
影响因子：
5
通讯作者：
Lijing Shao;Bing Zhang
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Lijing Shao;Bing Zhang
一个假设的光子质量，$m_\gamma$，在洛伦兹不变理论中给出了一个依赖于能量的光速。这样的修改会导致不同能量的光子在经过固定距离时产生额外的时间延迟。快速射电暴（FRB）持续时间短，传播距离短，是制约m\gamma\$的理想天体。在这里，我们第一次开发了一个贝叶斯框架来研究这个问题的FRB目录。这些FRB与红移测量和没有在这个框架中都是有用的，并可以组合在一个贝叶斯的方式。21个FRB的目录（包括20个没有红移测量的FRB，以及一个FRB 121102，测量的红移$z=0.19273 \pm 0.00008$）给出了一个组合极限$m_\gamma \leq 8.7 \times 10^{-51}\，{\rm kg}$，或等效的$m_\gamma \leq 4.9 \times 10^{-15}\，{\rm eV}/c^2$（$m_\gamma \leq 1.5\times10^{-50} \，{\rm kg}$，或相当于$m_\gamma \leq 8.4 \times 10^{-15} \，{\rm eV}/c^2$），置信水平为68%（95%），这代表了纯粹来自运动学的最佳极限。本文提出的框架将是有价值的，当FRB的日常观察在未来。FRB数量的增加，以及对银河系、FRB的宿主星系和星系际中值中电子分布知识的完善，将进一步收紧约束。
A hypothetical photon mass, $m_\gamma$, gives an energy-dependent light speed in a Lorentz-invariant theory. Such a modification causes an additional time delay between photons of different energies when they travel through a fixed distance. Fast radio bursts (FRBs), with their short time duration and cosmological propagation distance, are excellent astrophysical objects to constrain $m_\gamma$. Here for the first time we develop a Bayesian framework to study this problem with a catalog of FRBs. Those FRBs with and without redshift measurement are both useful in this framework, and can be combined in a Bayesian way. A catalog of 21 FRBs (including 20 FRBs without redshift measurement, and one, FRB 121102, with a measured redshift $z=0.19273 \pm 0.00008$) give a combined limit $m_\gamma \leq 8.7 \times 10^{-51}\, {\rm kg}$, or equivalently $m_\gamma \leq 4.9 \times 10^{-15}\, {\rm eV}/c^2$ ($m_\gamma \leq 1.5\times10^{-50} \, {\rm kg}$, or equivalently $m_\gamma \leq 8.4 \times 10^{-15} \,{\rm eV}/c^2$) at 68% (95%) confidence level, which represents the best limit that comes purely from kinematics. The framework proposed here will be valuable when FRBs are observed daily in the future. Increment in the number of FRBs, and refinement in the knowledge about the electron distributions in the Milky Way, the host galaxies of FRBs, and the intergalactic median, will further tighten the constraint.