Bounds on length scales of classical spacetime foam models

Abstract

Simple models of a classical spacetime foam are considered, which consist of identical static defects embedded in Minkowski spacetime. Plane-wave solutions of the vacuum Maxwell equations with appropriate boundary conditions at the defect surfaces are obtained in the long-wavelength limit. The corresponding dispersion relations {omega}{sup 2}={omega}{sup 2}(k-vector) are calculated, in particular, the coefficients of the quadratic and quartic terms in k-vector. Astronomical observations of gamma-ray bursts and ultra-high-energy cosmic rays then place bounds on the coefficients of the dispersion relations and, thereby, on particular combinations of the fundamental length scales of the static spacetime foam models considered. Spacetime foam models with a single length scale are excluded, even models with a length scale close to the Planck length (as long as a classical spacetime remains relevant)