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Planck Time in Action - A Wide Variety of Clues by
Richard Lieu
04 October 2002 In April 2002 a top panel of the National Academy of Science provided a `road-map' recommendation of key scientific questions at the boundary of physics and astronomy. These include `what powered the Big Bang', `space-time & matter at the edge of a black hole', the nature of `dark energy'. and `what governs structure formation'. I will explain why the basic notion of a moving clock being less accurate, the so- called `micro-relativity' (MR) phenomenon, has something to do with these questions. I will also present a significant body of current data, gathered from observations of >= PeV cosmic rays (`knee', absence of the GZK spectral cutoff) and >= TeV gamma-rays (Mkn-501, HR1656, Crab, SN1006), that provides vital clues for the existence of MR effects. Future but imminent experiments will reveal far more information about how MR operates. These include gravity wave interferometers (LIGO, VIRGO, LISA), gamma-ray burst missions (GLAST, AMS), and spectroscopy of the highly asymmetric `red wing' of the Fe K shell emission from the supermassive black hole MCG6.
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