SIGNATURES OF NEW PHYSICS FROM HBT CORRELATIONS IN UHECRS

Abstract

Quantum fields written on noncommutative spacetime (Groenewold–Moyal plane) obey twisted commutation relations. In this paper we show that these twisted commutation relations result in Hanbury–Brown Twiss (HBT) correlations that are distinct from that for ordinary bosonic or fermionic fields, and hence can provide useful information about underlying noncommutative nature of spacetime. The deviation from usual bosonic/fermionic statistics becomes pronounced at high energies, suggesting that a natural place is to look at Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs). Since the HBT correlations are sensitive only to the statistics of the particles, observations done with UHECRs are capable of providing unambiguous signatures of noncommutativity, without any detailed knowledge of the mechanism and source of origin of UHECRs.