Photon Mass and Very Long Baseline Interferometry

Abstract

A relation between the photon mass, its frequency, $\nu$, and the deflection parameter, $\gamma$, determined by experimentalists (which characterizes the contribution of space curvature to gravitational deflection) is found. This amazing result allows us to conclude that the knowledge of the parameters $\nu$ and $\gamma$ is all we need to set up gravitational bounds on the photon mass. By considering as inputs the most recent measurements of the solar gravitational deflection of radio waves obtained via the Very Long Baseline Interferometry, upper bounds on the photon mass are estimated.Comment: Accepted for publication in International Journal of Modern Physics