Prepared for submission to JCAP Photon horizon including Lorentz Invariance Violation. 7 1 0 2 n a J 0 Rodrigo Guedes Langa Humberto Mart´ınez-Huertab Vitor de 2 Souzaa ] E H aInstituto de F´ısica de S˜ao Carlos, Universidade de S˜ao Paulo, . Av. Trabalhador S˜ao-carlense 400, S˜ao Carlos, Brasil. h p bDepartamento de F´ısica, Centro de Investigaci´on y de Estudios Avanzados del I.P.N., - Apartado Postal 14-740, 07000, Ciudad de M´exico, M´exico. o r t E-mail: [email protected], hmartinez@fis.cinvestav.mx, [email protected] s a [ Abstract. Inthispaper,LorentzInvarianceViolation(LIV)isconsideredinthecalculations 3 of photon propagation in the Universe. LIV is considered only in the photon sector and the v meanfreepathoftheγγ → e+e− interactioniscalculated. Thecorrespondingphotonhorizon 5 6 including LIV effects is used to predict major changes in the propagation of photons with 8 energy above 1016 eV. The GZK photon flux on Earth is calculated and compared to the 4 Lorentz invariant scenario. It is shown that upper limits on the photon flux at the highest 0 . energies can set limits on the LIV coefficients. 1 0 7 1 : v i X r a Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 Description of the LIV model 2 3 Photon horizon including LIV effects 3 4 GZK photons including LIV effects 5 5 Conclusions 5 1 Introduction Astroparticle physics has recently reached the status of precision science due to: a) the construction of new observatories operating innovative technologies, b) the detection of large numbers of events and sources and c) the development of clever theoretical interpretations of thedata. Twoobservationalwindowshaveproducedveryimportantresultsinthelastdecade. The ultra-high energy cosmic rays (E > EeV) studied by the Pierre Auger and the Telescope ArrayObservatories[8,34]improvedourknowledgeofthemostextremephenomenaknownin Nature. The GeV-TeV gamma-ray experiments FERMI/LAT [3], H.E.S.S. [28], MAGIC [29] and VERITAS [27] gave a new perspective on gamma-ray production and propagation in the Universe. Theoperationofthecurrentinstrumentsandtheconstructionoffutureones[9,19] guarantee the production of even more precise information in the decades to come. Lorentz Invariance (LI) is one the pillars of modern physics and it has been tested in several experimental approaches [26]. Astroparticle physics has been proposed as an appropriate test environment for possible Lorentz Invariance Violation (LIV) given the large energyoftheparticles, thelargepropagationdistances, theaccumulationofsmallinteraction effects and recently the precision of the measurements [2, 12, 13, 20, 23, 32, 33]. Gamma-ray propagation in the intergalactic photon background was studied previously in detail [10]. In the present work, LIV is allowed in the interaction of high energy photons with the background and its consequences are studied. The LIV framework is explained in section 2. Only the γγ → e+e− interaction is considered to violate Lorentz Invariance. The broken symmetry leads to a change of the energy threshold of the interaction. The allowed kinematic solutions for the interaction under a given LIV model are presented and discussed. The effect of the change in the energy threshold modifies the mean free path of the interaction and therefore the survival probability of a photon propagating in the background dependsontheLIVcoefficients. Thisdependenceiscalculatedinsection3inwhichthemean free path and the survival probability are shown for several LIV coefficients and expansion orders of the energy dispersion relation. Finally the mean free path of the γγ interaction considering LIV is implemented in a Monte Carlo propagation code. The effect of LIV in the flux of ultra high energy photons arriving on Earth due to the GZK effect is calculated. This result can be directly compared to measurements of upper limits on the flux of photons done by ultra high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) experiments in order to set limits on the LIV coefficients. – 1 – 2 Description of the LIV model One of the most commonly mechanisms to introduce LIV in particle physics phenomenology is based on the polynomial correction in the dispersion particle relation, mainly motivated by an extra term in the Lagrangian density that explicitly breaks Lorentz symmetry, see for instance references [2, 6, 12, 13, 20, 22, 24]. In these models, the corrected expression for the dispersion relation is given by the following equation: E2−p2 = m2+δ En+2, (2.1) n where (E,p) stands for the particle four-momenta with mass m. For simplicity, natural units are used in this section. δ is the LIV coefficient that parametrizes the particle dependent n LIV correction and n expresses the correction order. The correction order can be derived from the series expansion or from a particular model for that order, see for instance the case of n = 0 [21], n = 1 [30] or for a generic n [35]. δ is frequently considered to be inversely n proportional to En [1, 2, 11, 24, 35, 37]. QG Equation 2.1 leads to unconventional solutions of the energy threshold in particle pro- duction processes of the type AB → CD. In this paper, the γγ → e+e− interaction will CB be considered. From now on, the symbol γ refers to a high energy gamma ray with energy E = [109,1022] eV traveling in the Universe and interacting with the background photons γ named γ with energy (cid:15) = [10−11,10] eV. CB Considering LIV only in the photon sector, the specific dispersion relation can be writ- ten: E2−p2 = δ En+2, γ γ γ,n γ (2.2) (cid:15)2−p2 = δ (cid:15)n+2, γCB γ,n where δ is the n-order LIV coefficient in the photon sector and therefore taken to be γ,n the same in both dispersion relations. The standard LI dispersion relation for the electron- positron pair follows: E2 −p2 = m2. e± e± e Taking into account the inelasticity (K) of the process (E = KE ) and imposing e− γ energy-momentum conservation in the interaction, the following expression for a head-on collision with collinear final momenta can be written to leading order in δ γ,n (cid:18) 1 m2 (cid:19) 4(cid:15)E −m2 − e γ e K(1−K) 2K(1−K)(E +(cid:15))2 γ (2.3) (cid:20) (cid:15)n+2 (cid:15) (cid:18) (cid:15)n (cid:19)(cid:21) = −δ En+2 1+ − 1+ . γ,n γ Eγn+2 Eγ Eγn In the ultra relativistic limit E (cid:29) m and E (cid:29) (cid:15), this equation reduces to γ e γ 1 δ En+2+4E (cid:15)−m2 = 0. (2.4) γ,n γ γ eK(1−K) Equation 2.4 implies two scenarios: I) δ > 0 the photo production threshold energy γ,n is shifted to lower energies and II) δ < 0 the threshold takes place at higher energies than γ,n that expected in a LI regime, except for scenarios below a critical value for delta where the photo production process is forbidden. Figure 1 shows the solution of equation 2.4 in an innovative way for n = 0. The inelasticity is fixed to K = 1/2. Three panels are shown: the left panel corresponds to δ < 0, the center panel corresponds to the LI solution with γ,0 – 2 – δ = 0 and the right panel to the solution with δ > 0. The gray areas show the allowed γ,0 γ,0 regions of E as a function of δ . The boundary of the shaded areas represents the allowed γ γ,0 solutions of equation 2.4 when the background photon energy is equal to 2.7, 2, 1.5 and 1 K, from darker to lighter gray, respectively. The allowed regions are cumulative, the allowed area for 1 K includes higher temperatures. The red dashed line is the solution of equation 2.4 forδ = 0(LIcase)andT = 2.7K.Thereddashedlineisshownintheleftandrightpanels γ,0 as a reference. Similar figures were produced for n = 1,2, resulting in the same conclusions. In this work, the effects for δ > 0 are negligible when compared to δ < 0, therefore only γ,n γ,n the negative case will be discussed in the next sections. Notice that, if δ = 0 in equation 2.4 the LI regime is recovered. In the LI regime, it γ,n is possible to define ELI = m2e . The math can be simplified by the introduction of the γ 4(cid:15)K(1−K) dimensionless variables E γ x = , (2.5) γ ELI γ and LI (n+1) E γ Λ = δ . (2.6) γ,n γ,n 4(cid:15) Then, equation 2.4 takes the form Λ xn+2+x −1 = 0. (2.7) γ,n γ γ Studying the values of δ for which equation 2.7 has a solution, one can set the extreme γ,n allowed LIV coefficient [12, 25]. The limit LIV coefficient (δlim) for which the interaction is γ,n kinematically allowed for a given E and (cid:15) is given by: γ (cid:15) (n+1)n+1 δlim = −4 . (2.8) γ,n LI (n+1)(n+2)n+2 E γ Figure 1 also shows δlim as blue points. Equation 2.7 has real solutions for x only if γ,0 γ δ > δlim. Therefore, under the LIV model considered here, if δ < δlim, high energy γ,n γ,n γ,n γ,n photons would not interact with the background photons. For a given E and δ the threshold background photon energy ((cid:15)LIV) including LIV γ γ,n th effects is: (cid:15)LIV = m2e − δγ,nEγn+1. (2.9) th 4E K(1−K) 4 γ The superscript LIV is used from now on for emphasis. In the next sections, (cid:15)LIV as given th by equation 2.9 will be used for the calculations of the mean free path of the γγ → e+e− CB interaction. Figure 2 shows the allowed parameter space of E and (cid:15) for different values of γ δ . The gray areas are cumulative from darker to lighter gray. Figure 2 illustrates how the γ,0 mean free path is going to be affected by LIV effects given the dependence of the allowed pair production area on the LIV coefficients. 3 Photon horizon including LIV effects The optical depth, τ (E ,z), quantifies how opaque to photons the Universe is. The survival γ γ probability, i.e., the probability that a photon (γ) emitted with a given energy (E ) and at γ a given redshift (z) reaches Earth without interacting with the background, is given by: – 3 – P (E ,z) = e−τγ(Eγ,z). (3.1) γ→γ γ The photon horizon is the distance (z ) for which τ (E ,z ) = 1. z defines, as a h γ γ h h function of the energy of the photon, the distance over which a photon has probability P = 1/e of reaching Earth. The evaluation of the photon horizon is itself of extreme γ→γ importance because it summarizes the visible Universe as a function of the energy of the emitted photon. In this section, the photon horizon is calculated including LIV effects. The argument presented in reference [10] is followed here. In the intergalactic medium, the γγ → e+e− interaction is the main contribution to CB determinethephotonhorizon. Intheapproximationwherecosmologicaleffectsarenegligible, the mean free path (λ(E )) of this interaction is given by: γ cz λ(E ) = , (3.2) γ H τ (E ) 0 γ γ where H = 70 km s−1 Mpc−1 is the Hubble constant. The optical depth is obtained by: 0 (cid:90) z c τ = dz × γ (cid:112) H (1+z) Ω +Ω (1+z)3 0 0 Λ M (3.3) (cid:90) 1 1−cosθ (cid:90) ∞ d(cosθ) d(cid:15)n ((cid:15),z)σ(E ,(cid:15),z), γ γ 2 −1 (cid:15)LIV th where c is the speed of light in vacuum, θ the angle between the direction of propagation of both photons θ = [−π,+π], Ω = 0.7 is the dark energy density, Ω = 0.3 is the matter Λ M density and (cid:15)LIV is the threshold energy of the interaction as given by equation 2.9. th n is the background photon density. The dominant backgrounds are the Extra- γCB galactic Background Light (EBL) for E < 1014.5 eV, the Cosmic Background Microwave γ Radiation (CMB) for 1014.5 eV < E < 1019 eV and the Radio Background (RB) for E > γ γ 1019 eV. In the calculations presented here, the Gilmore EBL model [16] was used. Since LIV effects in the photon horizon are expected only at the highest energies (E > 1016 eV) γ different models of EBL would give the same results. For the RB, the data from Gervasi et al. [15] with a cutoff at 1 MHz were used. Different cutoffs in the RB data lead to different photon horizons as shown in reference [10]. Since no new effect shows up in the LIV calculation due to the RB cutoff, only the 1 MHz cutoff will be presented. σ is the cross-section of the interaction. No LIV effects are considered in the cross- section calculation. The Breit-Wheeler [5] cross-section was used: 2πα2 σ(E,(cid:15),θ) = W(β), (3.4) 3m2 e with W(β) =(cid:0)1−β2(cid:1) ×(cid:20)2β(cid:0)β2−2(cid:1)+(cid:0)3−β2(cid:1)ln(cid:18)1+β(cid:19)(cid:21), (3.5) 1−β whereβ referstothespeedoftheelectron-positronpairinthecenter-of-massreferenceframe: (cid:18) 2m2c4 (cid:19)1/2 β(E,(cid:15),θ) = 1− e . (3.6) E(cid:15)(1−cosθ) – 4 – Figures3,4and5showthemeanfreepathforγγ → e+e− asafunctionoftheenergy CB of the photon (E ) for several LIV coefficients with n = 0, n = 1 and n = 2, respectively. γ The main effect is an increase in the mean free path that becomes stronger the larger the photon energy (E ) and the LIV coefficient are. Consequently, fewer interactions happen γ and the photon (γ) will have a higher probability of traveling further than it would have in a LI scenario. Similar effects due to LIV are seen for n = 0, n = 1 and n = 2. The LIV coefficients are treated as free parameters, therefore there is no way to compare the importance of the effect between the orders n = 0, n = 1 and n = 2, each order must be limited independently. Note that δ units depend on n. γ,n The LIV effect becomes more tangible in figure 6 in which the photon horizon (z ) is h shown as a function of E . For energies above E > 1016.5 eV, the photon horizon increases γ γ when LIV is taken into account increasing the probability that a distant source emitting high energy photons produces a detectable flux at Earth. 4 GZK photons including LIV effects UHECRs interact with the photon background producing pions (photo-pion production). Pions decay shortly after production generating EeV photons among other particles. The effectofthisinteractionchainsuppressestheprimaryUHECRfluxandgeneratesasecondary flux of photons [14]. The effect was named GZK after the authors of the original papers [18, 36]. TheEeVphotons(GZKphotons)alsointeractwiththebackgroundphotonsasdescribed in the previous sections. The study of GZK photons considering LIV is presented in this section. In order to consider LIV in the GZK photon calculation the CRPropa3/Eleca [4, 31] programs were modified. The mean free paths calculated in section 3 were implemented in the CRPropa3/Eleca codes and the propagation of the particles was simulated. UHECR sources were homogeneously distributed in the Universe emitting protons with a power-law energy spectrum with index −2.7 and maximum energy of E = 1021 eV. The UHECR max flux reaching Earth was normalized to the flux measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory at E = 1018.85 eV. Figure 7 shows the integral flux of GZK photons obtained for n = 0 and some values of LIV coefficients. The black line (δ = 0) corresponds to the LI scenario. The flux is γ,0 very sensitive to the LIV coefficients and increases with δ . One order of magnitude more γ,n GZK photons are expected for moderate values of the LIV coefficients (δ = −10−21) when γ,0 comparing with the LI predictions. 5 Conclusions In this paper the effect of possible LIV in the propagation of photons in the Universe is studied. The interaction of a high energy photon traveling in the photon background was solved under LIV in the photon sector hypothesis. An innovative illustration of the solu- tion was presented in section 2. The mean free path of the γγ → e+e− interaction was CB calculated considering LIV effects. Moderate LIV coefficients introduce a significant change in the mean free path of the interaction as shown in section 3 and figures 3, 4 and 5. The corresponding LIV photon horizon was calculated as shown in figure 6. The effect of LIV in the flux of GZK photons was calculated in section 4 and is shown in figure 7. The flux of GZK photons reaching Earth increases significantly for small negative – 5 – valuesoftheLIVcoefficients(δ ). Anincreaseofthephotonfluxbymorethanoneorderof γ,n magnitude for δ = −10−21 was calculated. The upper limits in the photon flux measured γ,0 by the UHECR experiments [7, 17] can be used to set limits on the LIV coefficients and therefore on the possible Lorentz Invariance Violation. Acknowledgments RGL is supported by FAPESP (2014/26816-0).HMH acknowledges IFSC/USP for their hos- pitality during the developments of this work, Abdel P´erez Lorenzana for enlightening dis- cussions and the support from Conacyt Mexico under grant 237004. VdS thanks the Brazil- ian population support via FAPESP (2015/15897-1) and CNPq. This work has partially made use of the computing facilities of the Laboratory of Astroinformatics (IAG/USP, NAT/Unicsul),whosepurchasewasmadepossiblebytheBrazilianagencyFAPESP(2009/54006- 4) and the INCT-A. References [1] A. Abramowski et al. 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A. Kuz’min. ZhETF Pis’ma, 4:114, 1966. [37] Benjamin Zitzer. Lorentz Invariance Violation Limits from the Crab Pulsar using VERITAS. In Proceedings, 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2013): Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 2-9, 2013, page 1147, 2013. – 8 – Figure 1. Allowedregionsofthehighenergyphoton(E )andδ fortheγγ →e+e− interaction γ γ,0 CB considering LIV effects. Gray regions show for each case the space parameter for which equation 2.4 is solvable. The left panel corresponds to δ < 0, the center panel corresponds to the LI solution γ,0 withδ =0andtherightpaneltothesolutionswithδ >0. Fourcasesofthebackgroundphoton γ,0 γ,0 energy ((cid:15)) are shown corresponding to temperatures of 2.7, 2, 1.5 and 1 K, from dark to light gray, respectively. The red dashed line is a reference for δ =0 (LI case) with (cid:15) corresponding to 2.7 K. γ,0 The blue points represents δlim as calculated in equation 2.8. γ,0 Figure 2. Allowed regions for the pair production in the γγ →e+e− interaction considering LIV CB effects. The high energy photon (E ) and background photon ((cid:15)) parameter space is shown divided γ in gray regions for each value of δ . The gray areas are cumulative from darker to lighter gray. The γ,0 red dashed line is a reference for δ =0 (LI case). γ,0 – 9 –