Loop quantum gravity and light propagation -: art. no. 103509

Within loop quantum gravity we construct a coarse-grained approximation for the Einstein-Maxwell theory that yields effective Maxwell equations in flat spacetime comprising Planck scale corrections. The corresponding Hamiltonian is defined as the expectation value of the electromagnetic term in the Einstein-Maxwell Hamiltonian constraint, regularized in the manner of Thiemann, with respect to a would-be semiclassical state. The resulting energy dispersion relations entail Planck scale corrections to those in flat spacetime. Both the helicity dependent contribution of Gambini and Pullin and, for a value of a parameter of our approximation, that of Ellis and co-workers are recovered. The electric-magnetic asymmetry in the regularization procedure yields nonlinearities only in the magnetic sector which are briefly discussed. Observations of cosmological gamma ray bursts might eventually lead to the needed accuracy to study some of these quantum gravity effects.