Limiting superluminal neutrino velocity and Lorentz invariance violation by neutrino emission from the blazar TXS 0506+056

Abstract

The detection of high-energy neutrino coincident with the blazar TXS 0506 þ 056 provides a unique opportunity to test Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) in the neutrino sector. Thanks to the precisely measured redshift, i.e., z ¼ 0.3365, the comoving distance of the neutrino source is determined. In this work, we obtain and discuss the constraints on the superluminal neutrino velocity δ ν and the LIV by considering the energy loss of superluminal neutrino during propagation. Given superluminal electron velocity (δ e ≥ 0), a very stringent constraint on superluminal neutrino velocity can be reached, i.e., δ ν ≲ 1.3 × 10 −18 , corresponding to the quantum gravity (QG) scale M QG;1 ≳ 5.7 × 10 3 M Pl and M QG;2 ≳ 9.3 × 10 −6 M Pl for linear (quadratic) LIV, which are ∼12 orders of magnitude tighter for linear LIV and ∼9 orders tighter for quadratic LIV compared to the time-of-flight constraint from MeV neutrinos of SN 1987A. While given the subluminal electron velocity, a weaker constraint on the superluminal neutrino velocity is obtained, i.e., δ ν ≲ 8 × 10 −17 , which is consistent with the conclusions of previous works. We also study the neutrino detection probability due to the distortion of neutrino spectral shape during propagation, which gives slightly weaker constraints than above by a factor of ∼2.

Search for Lorentz Invariance Violation from stacked Gamma-Ray Burst spectral lag data

“…Reviews of all these astrophysical searches for LIV with these sources can be found in [11,30,31]. The corresponding results on LIV with neutrinos can be found in [32][33][34][35][36][37]. A constraint on LIV using the first gravitational wave event GW150914 has also been obtained [38].…”

Lorentz symmetry and high-energy neutrino astronomy

“…A field in vacuum, motivated by new physics, could saturate the space-time and violate the isotropy of the Universe and hence produce Lorentz invariance (similar to the classical aether). Under such conditions, neutrinos would emit particles in vacuum [16][17][18] and this energy loss would attenuate the highest energy neutrinos as they travel long distance. Such a test has been performed using the diffused high-energy astrophysical neutrino sample [19].…”

Neutrino signals of lightcone fluctuations resulting from fluctuating space-time

“…Variations in the arrival time of cosmic messenger particles (mainly high energy photons) from cosmological sources have been searched for extensively in an effort to detect possible quantum gravity signals [2,3,5,6,[8][9][10][11], with no signal observed to date. Searches have mainly focused on deterministic variations in particle velocity via modified dispersion relations, typically motivated by the prospect that Lorentz invariance symmetry or the weak equivalence principal is violated in quantum gravity.…”

“…Searches have mainly focused on deterministic variations in particle velocity via modified dispersion relations, typically motivated by the prospect that Lorentz invariance symmetry or the weak equivalence principal is violated in quantum gravity. Neutrino-based constraints [9][10][11] have more recently been derived from the multi-messenger observations of the first identified astrophysical high energy neutrino point source, the flaring blazar TXS 0506+056 [59,60].…”

“…In recent years however, experimental constraints on potential Planck scale quantum gravity effects have been achieved using high-energy particles of cosmological origin, exploiting observations of photons from distant gamma ray bursts (GRBs), quasars and quiescent gas clouds [1][2][3][4][5][6][7], and the high-energy astrophysical neutrinos observed by neutrino telescopes [8][9][10][11] such as the IceCube neutrino observatory [12]. These measurements have achieved sensitivity to very weak effects due to the vast distances traversed by the observed particles, potentially allowing even weak effects to accumulate into measurable signals.…”