Constraints on birefringence-free photon theory within standard-model extension

Abstract

Constraints on the birefringence-free subset of Lorentz-violating (LV) operators are derived using 14 GRB photons in the GeV-band. These constraints target the isotropic $c_{(I)00}^{(d)}$ coefficients for dimensions $d=6,8,10$ within the framework of the Standard-Model Extension (SME). Employing theory-agnostic Bayesian parameter estimation methods, our analysis indicates a preference for subluminal LV effects. Focusing on this case, we further refine the parameter constraints, yielding results that are mutually consistent. Within the 95\% posterior credible interval, our constraints yield the bounds, $|c_{(I)00}^{(6)}|\le 7.75\times 10^{-20}{\mathrm{GeV}}^{-2}$, $|c_{(I)00}^{(8)}|\le 4.92\times 10^{-24}{\mathrm{GeV}}^{-4}$, and $|c_{(I)00}^{(10)}|\le 3.46\times 10^{-28}{\mathrm{GeV}}^{-6}$, which improve upon the most stringent credible-interval bounds reported in the literature by at least five orders of magnitude.

12pages, 2 figures