Scientists tried to break Einstein’s speed of light rule

In 1887, a landmark experiment reshaped our understanding of the universe. American physicists Albert Michelson and Edward Morley attempted to detect Earth's motion through space by comparing how fast light traveled along different directions. Their experiment found no difference at all. This unexpected null result became one of the most influential outcomes in scientific history. It led Albert Einstein to propose that the speed of light is constant, a cornerstone idea behind his theory of special relativity.

Special relativity rests on the principle that the laws of physics remain the same for all observers, regardless of how they are moving relative to one another. This idea is known as Lorentz invariance. Over time, Lorentz invariance became a foundational assumption in modern physics, especially within quantum theory.

Quantum theory evolved with Lorentz invariance at its core. This is especially true for quantum field theory and the Standard Model of Particle Physics, which is the most thoroughly tested scientific theory ever created and has passed experimental checks with extraordinary precision. Given this track record, it may seem strange to question Lorentz invariance after more than a century of success.

The motivation comes from another of Einstein's breakthroughs. His theory of general relativity explains gravity as a bending of spacetime itself. Like special relativity, it has been confirmed with remarkable accuracy across many environments, from weak gravitational fields to extreme cosmic conditions.

Despite their individual successes, quantum theory and general relativity do not fit together smoothly. Quantum physics describes reality using probability wave functions, while general relativity describes how matter and energy shape the geometry of spacetime. These two approaches struggle to coexist when particles move through curved spacetime while also influencing that curvature.

Efforts to combine the two theories into a single framework known as quantum gravity often run into the same obstacle. Many proposed solutions require small violations of Lorentz invariance. These violations would be extremely subtle but could offer clues about new physics beyond current theories.

One prediction shared by several Lorentz-invariance-violating quantum gravity models is that the speed of light may depend slightly on a photon's energy. Any such effect would have to be tiny to match existing experimental limits. However, it could become detectable at the highest photon energies, specifically in very-high-energy gamma rays.

A research team led by former UAB student Mercè Guerrero and current IEEC PhD student at the UAB Anna Campoy-Ordaz set out to test this idea using astrophysical observations. The team also included Robertus Potting from the University of Algarve and Markus Gaug, a lecturer in the Department of Physics at the UAB who is also affiliated with the IEEC.

Their approach relies on the vast distances light travels across the universe. If photons of different energies are emitted at the same time from a distant source, even minuscule differences in their speeds could build up into measurable delays by the time they reach Earth.

Using a new statistical technique, the researchers combined existing measurements of very-high-energy gamma rays to examine several Lorentz-invariance-violating parameters favored by theorists within the Standard Model Extension (SME). The goal was ambitious. They hoped to find evidence that Einstein's assumptions might break down under extreme conditions.

Once again, Einstein's predictions held firm. The study did not detect any violation of Lorentz invariance. Even so, the results are significant. The new analysis improves previous limits by an order of magnitude, sharply narrowing where new physics could be hiding.

The search is far from over. Next-generation observatories such as the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory are being designed to detect very-high-energy gamma rays with far greater sensitivity. These instruments will allow scientists to continue testing the deepest foundations of physics and to keep pushing Einstein's ideas to their limits.