Compare · The Nature of Space & Time
Magueijo-Smolin Doubly Special Relativity vs Amelino-Camelia's Doubly Special Relativity
← Back to Magueijo-Smolin Doubly Special RelativityPick a variant from Deformed Special Relativity
Magueijo-Smolin Doubly Special Relativity Speculative | Amelino-Camelia's Doubly Special Relativity Speculative | |
|---|---|---|
| Proposed | 2002 | 2002 |
| Key figures | João Magueijo, Lee Smolin | Giovanni Amelino-Camelia |
| In one sentence | 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. | 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. |
| Predictions |
|
|
| Where it breaks |
|
|
| Key unresolved problem | 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. | 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. |
| Reader vote | No votes yet | No votes yet |
Magueijo-Smolin Doubly Special Relativity
2002 · Speculative
Amelino-Camelia's Doubly Special Relativity
2002 · Speculative
Proposed
2002
2002
Key figures
João Magueijo, Lee Smolin
Giovanni Amelino-Camelia
In one sentence
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.
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.
Predictions
- 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]]
- 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
Where it breaks
- 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.
- 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.
Key unresolved problem
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.
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.
Reader vote
No votes yet
No votes yet