Combined Limit on the Photon Mass with Nine Localized Fast Radio Bursts

Abstract

A nonzero-mass hypothesis for the photon can produces a frequency-dependent dispersion of light, which results in arrival-time differences of photons with different frequencies originating from a given transient source. Extragalactic fast radio bursts (FRBs), with their low frequency emissions, short time durations, and long propagation distances, are excellent astrophysical probes to constrain the rest mass of the photon $m_{\gamma }$. However, the derivation of a limit on $m_{\gamma }$ is complicated by the similar frequency dependences of dispersion expected from the plasma and nonzero photon mass effects. If a handful measurements of redshift for FRBs are available, the different redshift dependences of the plasma and photon mass contributions to the dispersion measure (DM) might be able to break dispersion degeneracy in testing the photon mass. For now, nine FRBs with redshift measurements have been reported, which can turn this idea into reality. Taking into account the DM contributions from both the plasma and a possible photon mass, we use the data on the nine FRBs to derive a combined limit of $m_{\gamma }\le 7.1\times 10^{-51}\mathrm{kg}$, or equivalently $m_{\gamma }\le 4.0\times 10^{-15}\mathrm{eV}/c^2$ at 68\% confidence level, which is essentially as good as or represents a factor of 7 improvement over previous limits obtained by the single FRBs. Additionally, a reasonable estimation for the DM contribution from the host galaxy, $\mathrm{D}{\mathrm{M}}_{\mathrm{host}}$, can be simultaneously achieved in our analysis. The rapid progress in localizing FRBs will further tighten the constraints on both $m_{\gamma }$ and $\mathrm{D}{\mathrm{M}}_{\mathrm{host}}$.

11 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in RAA

References in corpus (14)

• The ATNF Pulsar Catalogue
• The direct localization of a fast radio burst and its host
• The Host Galaxy and Redshift of the Repeating Fast Radio Burst FRB 121102
• A census of baryons in the Universe from localized fast radio bursts
• A repeating fast radio burst source localised to a nearby spiral galaxy
• A single fast radio burst localized to a massive galaxy at cosmological distance
• A fast radio burst localised to a massive galaxy
• The low density and magnetization of a massive galaxy halo exposed by a fast radio burst
• Probing Galactic Halos with Fast Radio Bursts
• Star Formation History up to z = 7.4: Implications for Gamma-Ray Bursts and the Cosmic Metallicity Evolution
• FRB 121102 Casts New Light on the Photon Mass
• A Bayesian Framework to Constrain the Photon Mass with a Catalog of Fast Radio Bursts
• Dispersion by pulsars, magnetars, fast radio bursts and massive electromagnetism at very low radio frequencies
• New Limits on the Photon Mass with Radio Pulsars in the Magellanic Clouds

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Cosmology and the massive photon frequency shift in the Standard-Model Extension
• Constraints on quantum gravity and the photon mass from gamma ray bursts
• Bounding the Photon Mass with the Dedispersed Pulses of the Crab Pulsar and FRB 180916B
• Testing the Ampère-Maxwell law on the photon mass and Lorentz-Poincaré symmetry violation with MMS multi-spacecraft data
• Bounding the Photon Mass with Ultrawide Bandwidth Pulsar Timing Data and Dedispersed Pulses of Fast Radio Bursts
• How limiting is optical follow-up for fast radio burst applications? Forecasts for radio and optical surveys
• The Dispersion Relation of Massive Photons in Plasma: A Comment on "Bounding the Photon Mass with Ultrawide Bandwidth Pulsar Timing Data and Dedispersed Pulses of Fast Radio Bursts"
• Bounding the photon mass with cosmological propagation of fast radio bursts