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Amelino-Camelia's Doubly Special Relativity vs Magueijo-Smolin Doubly Special Relativity
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Amelino-Camelia's Doubly Special Relativity Speculative | Magueijo-Smolin Doubly Special Relativity Speculative | |
|---|---|---|
| Proposed | 2002 | 2002 |
| Key figures | Giovanni Amelino-Camelia | João Magueijo, Lee Smolin |
| In one sentence | The rules of special relativity can be rewritten so that all inertial observers agree on a Planck-scale length, without picking out any preferred frame. | A modified special relativity in which the Planck energy joins the speed of light as an invariant, while all inertial frames stay equivalent and Einstein's theory returns at low energies. |
| Predictions |
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| Where it breaks |
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| Key unresolved problem | Which deformation nature uses, if any: the postulates allow several, and the version with a linear photon delay is already squeezed by gamma-ray burst data. | Choosing which of the many allowed non-linear boosts is physical, since each choice changes the maximum energy and how the speed of light behaves. |
| Reader vote | No votes yet | No votes yet |
Amelino-Camelia's Doubly Special Relativity
2002 · Speculative
Magueijo-Smolin Doubly Special Relativity
2002 · Speculative
Proposed
2002
2002
Key figures
Giovanni Amelino-Camelia
João Magueijo, Lee Smolin
In one sentence
The rules of special relativity can be rewritten so that all inertial observers agree on a Planck-scale length, without picking out any preferred frame.
A modified special relativity in which the Planck energy joins the speed of light as an invariant, while all inertial frames stay equivalent and Einstein's theory returns at low energies.
Predictions
- All inertial observers agree on a Planck-scale length as well as on the speed of light, and no preferred frame exists
- Energy, momentum and mass obey a deformed relation with Planck-length corrections, and every observer finds the same relation
- In particular κ-Poincaré realizations, boosts saturate at a maximum momentum equal to the inverse Planck length
- If the deformation makes photon speed depend on energy, high-energy gamma rays from distant bursts arrive at different times than low-energy ones
- Every inertial observer measures the same Planck-scale energy, alongside the same speed of light
- Physics agrees with special relativity at energies far below the invariant scale
- In some versions of the 2003 generalization, elementary particles have a maximum momentum or energy and the speed of light varies with energy
- Field theory and the equivalence principle are modified, with consequences for how the theory might embed in [[general relativity]]
Where it breaks
- The 2002 paper proves consistency for certain types of deformation only, so the general case is still open.
- Fermi's 2009 limit from GRB 090510 disfavours versions in which photon speed changes linearly with energy at the Planck scale.
- The framework allows several deformations. Amelino-Camelia's own 2010 review describes DSR scenarios with and without a modified dispersion relation, so one null result rules out only some versions.
- The 2003 generalization admits many examples with different maximum energies and photon speeds, so the framework alone does not fix one prediction.
- Versions with a speed of light that changes at first order in energy over the Planck energy face the Fermi and LHAASO gamma-ray burst limits.
- The 2002 paper only suggests a modified equivalence principle, so a full gravitational version of the model was left for later work.
Key unresolved problem
Which deformation nature uses, if any: the postulates allow several, and the version with a linear photon delay is already squeezed by gamma-ray burst data.
Choosing which of the many allowed non-linear boosts is physical, since each choice changes the maximum energy and how the speed of light behaves.
Reader vote
No votes yet
No votes yet