Paper detail

Possible relevance of quantum spacetime for neutrino-telescope data analyses

One of the primary goals of neutrino telescopes, such as IceCube, is the discovery of neutrinos emitted by gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Another source of interest in the results obtained by these telescopes is their possible use for tests of the applicability of Einstein's Special Relativity to neutrinos, particularly with respect to modifications that lead to Lorentz invariance violation that have been conjectured by some models of quantum space-time. We examine here the fascinating scenario in which these two aspects of neutrino-telescope physics require a combined analysis. We discuss how neutrinos that one would not associate to a GRB, when assuming a classical spacetime picture, may well be GRB neutrinos if the possibility that Lorentz invariance is broken at very high energies is taken into account. As an illustrative example we examine three IceCube high energy neutrinos that arrived hours before GRBs (but from the same direction) and we find that the available, IceCube data, while inconclusive, is compatible with a scenario in which one or two of these neutrinos were GRB neutrinos and their earlier arrival reflects Lorentz invariance violation. We outline how future analyses of neutrino data should be done in order to systematically test this possibility.