2002/07/22 by Joao Magueijo, Lee Smolin · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.67.044017
published as Phys.Rev.D67:044017,2003
arxiv created 2002/07/22 · arxiv updated 2011/05/05
The hypothesis that the Lorentz transformations may be modified at Planck scale energies is further explored. We present a general formalism for theories which preserve the relativity of inertial frames with a non-linear action of the Lorentz transformations on momentum space. Several examples are discussed in which the speed of light varies with energy and elementary particles have a maximum momenta and/or energy. Energy and momentum conservation are suitably generalized and a proposal is made for how the new transformation laws apply to composite systems. We then use these results to explain the ultra high energy cosmic ray anomaly and we find a form of the theory that explains the anomaly, and leads also to a maximum momentum and a speed of light that diverges with energy. We finally propose that the spatial coordinates be identified as the generators of translation in Minkowski spacetime. In some examples this leads to a commutative geometry, but with an energy dependent Planck constant.