2012/02/10 by Lei Qian
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #astro-ph.CO
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s11433-012-4648-2
published as Science China Physics, Mechanics and Astronomy, 2012, Volume 55, Issue 3, pp.523-526 · 4 pages, 2 figures
openalex publication_date 2012/02/10 · arxiv created 2014/06/06 · arxiv updated 2014/06/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
In the standard model of particle physics, photons are mass-less particles with a particular dispersion relation. Tests of this claim at different scales are both interesting and important. Experiments in territory labs and several exterritorial tests have put some upper limits on photon mass, e.g. torsion balance experiment in the lab shows that photon mass should be smaller than 1.2× 10-51\rm g. In this work, this claim is tested at a cosmological scale by looking at strong gravitational lensing data available and an upper limit of 8.71× 10-39g on photon mass was given. Observations of energy-dependent gravitational lensing with not yet available higher accuracy astrometry instruments may constrain photon mass better.