Testing the Einstein's equivalence principle with polarized gamma-ray bursts

Abstract

The Einstein's equivalence principle can be tested by using parameterized post-Newtonian parameters, of which the parameter $\gamma$ has been constrained by comparing the arrival times of photons with different energies. It has been constrained by a variety of astronomical transient events, such as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), fast radio bursts as well as pulses of pulsars, with the most stringent constraint of $\Delta \gamma \lesssim 10^{-15}$. In this letter, we consider the arrival times of lights with different circular polarization. For a linearly polarized light, it is the combination of two circularly polarized lights. If the arrival time difference between the two circularly polarized lights is too large, their combination may lose the linear polarization. We constrain the value of $\Delta {\gamma }_{\mathrm{p}}<1.6\times 10^{-27}$ by the measurement of the polarization of GRB 110721A, which is the most stringent constraint ever achieved.

References in corpus (4)

• The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
• Polarisation studies of the prompt gamma-ray emission from GRB 041219a using the Spectrometer aboard INTEGRAL
• High Energy Polarimetry of Prompt GRB Emission
• Testing Einstein's weak equivalence principle with a 0.4-nanosecond giant pulse of the Crab pulsar

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Multimessenger tests of the weak equivalence principle from GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterparts
• Precision Test of the Weak Equivalence Principle from Gamma-Ray Burst Polarization
• Constraining Einstein's Equivalence Principle With Multi-Wavelength Observations of Polarized Blazars
• Constraining Einstein's Equivalence Principle With Multi-Wavelength Polarized astrophysical Sources