Motivated by the interest in searches for violation of CPT invariance, we study its possible effects in the flavour ratios of high-energy neutrinos coming from cosmic accelerators. In particular, we focus on the effect of an energy independent new physics contribution to the neutrino flavour oscillation phase and explore whether it is observable in future detectors. Such a contribution could be related not only to CPT violation but also to a nonuniversal coupling of neutrinos to a torsion field. We conclude that this extra phase contribution only becomes observable, in the best case, at energies greater than 10^{16.5} GeV, which is about five orders of magnitude higher than the most energetic cosmological neutrinos to be detected in the near future. Therefore, if these effects are present only in the oscillation phase, they are going to be unobservable, unless a new mechanism or source capable to produce neutrinos of such energy were detected.
Screened modified gravity theories evade the solar system tests that have proved prohibitive for classical alternative gravity theories. In many cases, they do not fit into the PPN formalism. The environmental dependence of the screening has motivated a concerted effort to find new and novel probes of gravity using objects that are well-studied but have hitherto not been used to test gravity. Astrophysical objects---stars, galaxies, clusters---have proved competitive tools for this purpose since they occupy the partially-screened regime between solar system and the Hubble flow. In this article…
Chameleon and similar (symmetron and dilation) theories of gravity can exhibit new and interesting features on cosmological scales whilst screening the modifications on small scales thereby satisfying solar system tests of general relativity. This thesis explores the regime between these two scales: astrophysics. The majority of this thesis is focused on discerning new and novel astrophysical probes of chameleon gravity in the form of stellar structure and oscillation tests. These are used to place new constraints on the theory parameters and the implications of these are discussed, as are the…
In this work we continue the systematic study of observable effects emerging from modified dispersion relations. We study the motion of test particles subject to a general first order modification of the general relativistic dispersion relation as well as subject to the $κ$-Poincaré dispersion relation in spherical symmetry. We derive the corrections to the photon sphere, the black hole shadow, the Shapiro delay and the light deflection and identify the additional dependence of these observables on the photons' four momentum, which leads to measurable effects that can be compared to experiment…
We demonstrate that in some regions of parameter space, modified dispersion relations can lead to highly populated excited states, which we dub as "super-excited" states. In order to prepare such super-excited states, we invoke dispersion relations that have negative slope in an interim sub-horizon phase at high momenta. This behaviour of quantum fluctuations can lead to large corrections relative to the Bunch-Davies power spectrum, which mimics highly excited initial conditions. We identify the Bogolyubov coefficients that can yield these power spectra. In the course of this computation, we a…
Modified gravity theories generically predict a violation of Lorentz invariance, which may lead to a modified dispersion relation for propagating modes of gravitational waves. We construct a parametrized dispersion relation that can reproduce a range of known Lorentz-violating predictions and investigate their impact on the propagation of gravitational waves. A modified dispersion relation forces different wavelengths of the gravitational wave train to travel at slightly different velocities, leading to a modified phase evolution observed at a gravitational-wave detector. We show how such corr…
We develop a technique to construct analytical solutions of the linear perturbations of inflation with a nonlinear dispersion relation, due to quantum effects of the early universe. Error bounds are given and studied in detail. The analytical solutions describe the exact evolution of the perturbations extremely well even when only the first-order approximations is used.
A symplectic geometric origin of universal quartic modified dispersion relations
Birla Institute of Technology and Science（比拉理工科学研究所）；Canadian Quantum Research Center（加拿大量子研究中心）；University of British Columbia - Okanagan（不列颠哥伦比亚大学奥卡纳根分校）；Durham University（杜伦大学）；Hasselt University（哈瑟尔特大学）
Planck scale modified dispersion relations are one way how to capture the influence of quantum gravity on the propagation of fundamental point particles effectively. We derive the time dilation between an observer's or particle's proper time, given by a Finslerian length measure induced from a modified dispersion relation, and a reference laboratory time. To do so, the Finsler length measure for general first order perturbations of the general relativistic dispersion relation is constructed explicitly. From this we then derive the time dilation formula for the $κ$-Poincaré dispersion relation …
Astrophysical observations are a powerful tool to constrain effects of Lorentz-invariance violation in the photon sector. Objects at high redshifts provide the longest possible baselines, and gamma-ray telescopes allow us to observe some of the highest energy photons. Observations include polarization measurements and time-of-flight measurements of transient or variable objects to constrain vacuum birefringence and dispersion. Observing multiple sources covering the entire sky allows the extraction of constraints on anisotropy. In this paper, I review methods and recent results on Lorentz- and…
As a basic symmetry of Einstein's theory of special relativity, Lorentz invariance has withstood very strict tests. But there are still motivations for such tests. Firstly, many theories of quantum gravity suggest violations of Lorentz invariance at the Planck energy scale. Secondly, even minute deviations from Lorentz symmetry can accumulate as particle travel across large distances, leading to detectable effects at attainable energies. Thanks to their long baselines and high-energy emission, astrophysical observations provide sensitive tests of Lorentz invariance in the photon sector. In thi…
