Gravitational attraction of ultrarelativistic matter

A new testbed for modified gravity at the Large Hadron Collider

authored by: Christian Pfeifer, Dennis Rätzel, Daniel Braun
Abstract: We derive the scalar-tensor modification of the gravitational field of an ultrarelativistic particle beam and its effect on a test particle that is used as sensor. To do so, we solve the linearized scalar-tensor gravity field equations sourced by an energy-momentum tensor of a moving point particle. The geodesic equation and the geodesic deviation equation then predict the acceleration of the test particle as well as the momentum transfer due to a passing source. Comparing the momentum transfer predicted by general relativity and scalar tensor gravity, we find that there exists a relevant parameter regime where this difference increases significantly with the velocity of the source particle. Since ultrarelativistic particles are available at accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider, ultraprecise acceleration sensors in the vicinity of the particle beam could potentially detect deviations from general relativity or constrain modified gravity models.
External Organisation(s): University of Bremen
University of Tübingen
Type: Article
Journal: Physical Review D
Volume: 111
ISSN: 2470-0010
Publication date: 28.04.2025
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.111.084073 (Access: Open)

BibTeX

@article{43a9cc200b004d7685bb525bf1afabf8,
title = "Gravitational attraction of ultrarelativistic matter: A new testbed for modified gravity at the Large Hadron Collider",
abstract = "We derive the scalar-tensor modification of the gravitational field of an ultrarelativistic particle beam and its effect on a test particle that is used as sensor. To do so, we solve the linearized scalar-tensor gravity field equations sourced by an energy-momentum tensor of a moving point particle. The geodesic equation and the geodesic deviation equation then predict the acceleration of the test particle as well as the momentum transfer due to a passing source. Comparing the momentum transfer predicted by general relativity and scalar tensor gravity, we find that there exists a relevant parameter regime where this difference increases significantly with the velocity of the source particle. Since ultrarelativistic particles are available at accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider, ultraprecise acceleration sensors in the vicinity of the particle beam could potentially detect deviations from general relativity or constrain modified gravity models.",
author = "Christian Pfeifer and Dennis R{\"a}tzel and Daniel Braun",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 American Physical Society.",
year = "2025",
month = apr,
day = "28",
doi = "10.1103/PhysRevD.111.084073",
language = "English",
volume = "111",
journal = "Physical Review D",
issn = "2470-0010",
publisher = "American Physical Society",
number = "8",
}