PHOTON MASS and VERY LONG BASELINE INTERFEROMETRY

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

A relation between the photon mass, its frequency, nu, and the deflection parameter, gamma, determined by experimentalists (that 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.