The aim of this brief review is to present a case study of how astrophysics data can be used to get bounds on Lorentz-violating parameters. For this purpose, a particularly simple Lorentz-violating modification of the Maxwell theory of photons is considered, which maintains gauge invariance, CPT, and renormalization. With a standard spin-one-half Dirac particle minimally coupled to this nonstandard photon, the resulting modified-quantum-electrodynamics model involves nineteen dimensionless "deformation parameters." Ten of these parameters lead to birefringence and are already tightly constrained by astrophysics. New bounds on the remaining nine nonbirefringent parameters have been obtained from the inferred absence of vacuum Cherenkov radiation in ultrahigh-energy-cosmic-ray (UHECR) events. The resulting astrophysics bounds improve considerably upon current laboratory bounds and the implications of this "null experiment" may be profound, both for elementary particle physics and cosmology.
Lorentz invariant violation (LIV) test is very important to study in the new physics. All the known astrophysical constraints either have a very small examinable parameter space, or are only suitable for some special theoretical models. Here we suggest that it is possible to detect the time-delay of ultra-high-energy cosmic-rays (UHECRs) directly. We discuss some difficulties in our method, including the intergalactic magnetic fields. It seems that none of them are crucial, hence this method could give a larger examinable parameter space and a stronger constraint on LIV.
Advancing QCD toward astroparticle applications generates new challenges for perturbation theory, such as the presence of large evolution scales with sizeable scaling violations involving both the initial and the final state of a collision. Possible applications in the context of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) of these effects are discussed.
We explore the possibility to geometrize the interaction of massive fermions with the quantum structure of space-time, trying to create a theoretical background, in order to explain what some recent experimental results seem to implicate on the propagation of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR). We will investigate part of the phenomenological implications of this approach on the predicted effect of the UHECR suppression, in fact recent evidences seem to involve the modification of the GZK cut-off phenomenon. The search for an effective theory, which can explain this physical effect, is base…
The violation of Lorentz invariance (LI) has been invoked in a number of ways to explain issues dealing with ultrahigh energy cosmic ray (UHECR) production and propagation. These treatments, however, have mostly been limited to examples in the proton-neutron system and photon-electron system. In this paper we show how a broader violation of Lorentz invariance would allow for a series of previously forbidden decays to occur, and how that could lead to UHECR primaries being heavy baryonic states or Higgs bosons.
Owing to their isotropy, it is generally believed that ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) are extragalactic in origin. It is then expected that interactions of these cosmic rays with photons of the cosmic background radiation (CBR) should produce a drastic reduction in their flux above and energy of about $5 \times 10^{19}$ eV (50 EeV), the so-called ``GZK effect''. At present, the existence of this effect is uncertain owing to conflicting observational data and small number statistics. We show here that a small amount of Lorentz invariance violation (LIV), which could turn off photomeson i…
Present and future ultra-high-energy-cosmic-ray facilities (e.g., the Pierre Auger Observatory with South and North components) and TeV-gamma-ray telescope arrays (e.g., HESS or VERITAS and CTA) have the potential to set stringent indirect bounds on the nine Lorentz-violating parameters of nonbirefringent modified Maxwell theory minimally coupled to standard Dirac theory. Theoretically, the most interesting case is isotropic Lorentz violation, which is described by a single parameter [taken to vanish for the standard Lorentz-invariant theory]. It appears possible to obtain in the future an upp…
There has been much interest in possible violations of Lorentz invariance, particularly motivated by quantum gravity theories. It has been suggested that a small amount of Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) could turn off photomeson interactions of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) with photons of the cosmic background radiation and thereby eliminate the resulting sharp steepening in the spectrum of the highest energy CRs predicted by Greisen Zatsepin and Kuzmin (GZK). Recent measurements of the UHECR spectrum reported by the HiRes and Auger collaborations, however, indicate the presence o…
In a recent letter [1] with the same title, Farrar and Piran offered an explanation for the near isotropy of the arrival directions [2] of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and the apparent absence [3] of the so called `GZK cutoff' in their spectrum around $10^{20}$ eV due to pion photoproduction on the cosmic background radiation (CMB) that was predicted independently by Greisen [4] and by Zatsepin and Kuz'min [5]. They suggested that the extragalactic magnetic fields near the Milky Way are strong enough to deflect and isotropise the arrival directions of the UHECRs from a few nearby sour…
The status of solutions to the ultra-high energy cosmic ray puzzle that involve particle physics beyond the standard model is reviewed. Signatures and experimental constraints are discussed for most proposals like the Z burst model and topological defects (both allowed only as subdominant contribution), supermassive dark matter (no positive evidence from its key signatures galactic anisotropy and photon dominance), strongly interacting neutrinos or new primaries (no viable models known), and violation of Lorentz invariance (possible).
The GZK cutoff predicted at the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR) spectrum as been observed by the HiRes and Auger experiments. The results put severe constraints on the effect of Lorentz Invariance Violation(LIV) which has been introduced to explain the absence of GZK cutoff indicated in the AGASA data. Assuming homogeneous source distribution with a single power law spectrum, we calculate the spectrum of UHECRs observed on Earth by taking the processes of photopion production, $e^+e^-$ pair production and adiabatic energy loss into account. The effect of LIV is also taken into account in …
Detecting neutrinos and photons is crucial to identifying the sources of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), especially for transient sources. We focus on ultrahigh-energy gamma-ray emission from transient sources such as gamma-ray bursts, since >EeV gamma rays can be more direct evidence of UHECRs than PeV neutrinos and GeV-TeV gamma rays. We demonstrate that coincident detections of about 1-100 events can be expected by current and future UHECR detectors such as Auger and JEM-EUSO, and the detection probability can be higher than that of neutrinos for nearby transient sources at <50-100 M…
It was recently suggested that possible small volations of Lorentz invariance could explain the existence of UHECR beyond the GZK cutoff and the observations of multi-TeV gamma-rays from Mkn 501. Our analysis of Lorentz-violating kinematics shows that in addition to the modified threshold conditions solving cosmic ray puzzles we should expect a strong suppression of electromagnetic processes like bremsstrahlung and pair creation. This leads to drastic effects in electron-photon cascade development in the atmosphere and in detectors.
Extremely high-energy(EHE) cosmic rays might provide a chance to check a violation of the Lorentz symmetry of spacetime. Some theoretical consideration is described about why the Lorentz symmetry might break-down in EHE phenomena in this universe. Some models which introduce the violation of the Lorentz symmetry will be discussed.
Spacetime-varying coupling constants can be associated with violations of local Lorentz invariance and CPT symmetry. An analytical supergravity cosmology with time-varying fine-structure constant provides an explicit example. Estimates are made for some experimental constraints.
One possible feature of quantum gravity may be the violation of Lorentz invariance. In this paper we consider one particular manifestation of the violation of Lorentz invariance, namely modified dispersion relations for massive neutrinos. We show how such modified dispersion relations may affect atmospheric neutrino oscillations. We then consider how neutrino telescopes, such as ANTARES, may be able to place bounds on the magnitude of this type of Lorentz invariance violation.
We point out that previous studies of possible Lorentz-violating effects in astronomical time-of-flight data did not take into account the entire implications of the universe's cosmological expansion. We present the derivation of the accurate formulation of the problem and show that the resulting correction of the limits on Lorentz violation is significant.
High-energy neutrino astronomy will be capable of observing particles at both extremely high energies and over extremely long baselines. These features make such experiments highly sensitive to the effects of CPT and Lorentz violation. In this article, we review the theoretical foundation and motivation for CPT and Lorentz violating effects, and then go on to discuss the related phenomenology within the neutrino sector. We describe several signatures which might be used to identify the presence of CPT or Lorentz violation in next generation neutrino telescopes and cosmic ray experiments. In ma…
Infrared, optical, and ultraviolet spectropolarimetry of cosmological sources is used to constrain the pure electromagnetic sector of a general Lorentz-violating standard-model extension. The coefficients for Lorentz violation are bounded to less than 3x10^{-32}.
Neutrino oscillations provide an opportunity for sensitive tests of Lorentz invariance. This talk reviews some aspects of Lorentz violation in neutrinos and the prospect of testing Lorentz invariance in neutrino-oscillation experiments. A general Lorentz-violating theory for neutrinos is discussed, and some signals of Lorentz violation are identified.
A general framework for tests of Lorentz invariance with electromagnetic waves is presented, allowing for operators of arbitrary mass dimension. Signatures of Lorentz violations include vacuum birefringence, vacuum dispersion, and anisotropies. Sensitive searches for violations using sources such as active galaxies, gamma-ray bursts, and the cosmic microwave background are discussed. Direction-dependent dispersion constraints are obtained on operators of dimension 6 and 8 using gamma-ray bursts and the blazar Markarian 501. Stringent constraints on operators of dimension 3 are found using 5-ye…
We point out that equivalence principle violations, while not dynamically equivalent, produce the same kinematical effects as Lorentz invariance violations for particle processes in a constant gravitational potential. This allows us to translate many experimental bounds on Lorentz invariance violations into bounds on equivalence principle violations. The most stringent bound suggests that a postive signal in an Eötvös experiment may be at least seven orders of magnitude beyond current technology.
Exceptional sensitivity to spacetime torsion can be achieved by searching for its couplings to fermions. Recent experimental searches for Lorentz violation are exploited to extract new constraints involving 19 of the 24 independent torsion components down to levels of order 10^{-31} GeV.
Pulsars are the most accurate naturally occurring clocks, and data about them can be used to set bounds on neutron-sector Lorentz violations. If SO(3) rotation symmetry is completely broken for neutrons, then pulsars' rotation speeds will vary periodically. Pulsar timing data limits the relevant Lorentz-violating coefficients to be smaller than 1.7 x 10^(-8) at at least 90% confidence.
This talk outlines some results for gravitational theories with local Lorentz violation in the context of the Lorentz- and CPT-violating Standard-Model Extension.
In a nonperturbative formulation, radiative corrections arising from Lorentz and CPT violation in the fermion sector induce a definite and nonzero Chern-Simons addition to the electromagnetic action. If instead a perturbative formulation is used, an infinite class of theories characterized by the value of the Chern-Simons coefficient emerges at the quantum level.
Lorentz violation naturally leads to neutrino oscillations and provides an alternative mechanism that may explain current data. In this work, we discuss possible signals of Lorentz violation in neutrino-oscillation experiments.
Spectropolarimetry of distant sources of electromagnetic radiation at wavelengths ranging from infrared to ultraviolet are used to constrain Lorentz violation. A bound of 3x10^{-32} is placed on coefficients for Lorentz violation.
Vacuum birefringence is a signature of Lorentz-symmetry violation. Here we report on a recent search for birefringence in the cosmic microwave background. Polarization data is used to place constraints on certain forms of Lorentz violation.
In a model with Lorentz invariance violation implemented through modified dispersion relations, we estimate the rate for the decay process gamma -> 3 gamma and find that it provides a relevant bound on Lorentz invariance violation.
Solar-neutrino oscillations are considered using a massive model with perturbative Lorentz violation. The adiabatic approximation is used to calculate the effects of Lorentz violation to leading order. The results are more compact than previous work involving vacuum oscillations, and are accurate for small Lorentz-violating coefficients.
We consider bulk fields coupled to the graviton in a Lorentz violating fashion. We expect that the overly tested Lorentz symmetry might set constraints on the induced Lorentz violation in the brane, and hence on the dynamics of the interaction of bulk fields on the brane. We also use the requirement for Lorentz symmetry to constrain the cosmological constant observed on the brane.
Relating the effective Lorentz violation coefficients for composite particles to the coefficients for their constituent fields is a challenging problem. We calculate the Lorentz violation coefficients relevant to the dynamics of an alpha-particle in terms of proton and neutron coefficients. The alpha-particle coefficients would lead to anisotropies in the alpha-decays of nuclei, and because the decay process involves quantum tunneling, the effects of any Lorentz violations could be exponentially enhanced.
Existing experimental data for neutrino oscillations are consistent with Lorentz-violating massless neutrinos. This talk summarizes some aspects of neutrino oscillations from the perspective of Lorentz and CPT violation in effective quantum field theory.
This presentation discusses some of the signals for Lorentz violation potentially observable in atomic spectroscopy and clock-comparison experiments. The emphasis of the discussion is on how the angular-momentum quantum numbers of the states involved in the transition determine the properties of the possible sidereal variation of the transition frequency.
This talk provides a status report on CPT violation in neutral-meson oscillations, focusing on implications of the CPT- and Lorentz-violating standard-model extension.
A general introduction to Lorentz and CPT violation is presented. The observable effects of the breakdown of such fundamental symmetries in neutrinos are outlined and different experimental searches of some of the key signals of Lorentz violation are discussed. A novel powerful method to study model-independent neutrino oscillations is reviewed and then used to illustrate a new global model of neutrino oscillations based on Lorentz violation consistent with atmospheric, accelerator, reactor, and solar neutrino data.
Broken spacetime symmetries might emerge from a fundamental physical theory. The effective low-energy theory might be expected to exhibit violations of supersymmetry and Lorentz invariance. Some illustrative models which combine supersymmetry and Lorentz violation are described, and a superspace formulation is given.
The effects of quark-sector Lorentz violation on deep inelastic electron-proton scattering are studied. We show that existing data can be used to establish first constraints on numerous coefficients for Lorentz violation in the quark sector at an estimated sensitivity of parts in a million.
Lorentz-violating extensions of the Wess-Zumino model have been formulated in superspace. The models respect a supersymmetry algebra and can be understood as arising from suitably modified superspace transformations.
Electromagnetic resonant cavities form the basis for a number modern tests of Lorentz invariance. The geometry of most of these experiments implies unsuppressed sensitivities to parity-even Lorentz violations only. Parity-odd violations typically enter through suppressed boost effects, causing a reduction in sensitivity by roughly four orders of magnitude. Here we discuss possible techniques for achieving unsuppressed sensitivities to parity-odd violations by using asymmetric resonators.
Electromagnetic resonant cavities form the basis of many tests of Lorentz invariance involving photons. The effects of some forms of Lorentz violation scale with cavity size. We investigate possible signals of violations in the naturally occurring resonances formed in the Earth-ionosphere cavity. Comparison with observed resonances places the first terrestrial constraints on coefficients associated with dimension-three Lorentz-violating operators at the level of 10^{-20} GeV.
The violation of Lorentz symmetry can arise in a variety of approaches to fundamental physics. For the description of the associated low-energy effects, a dynamical framework known as the Standard-Model Extension has been developed. This talk gives a brief review of the topic focusing on Lorentz violation through varying couplings.
Lorentz violation is a predicted phenomenon from the Planck scale physics. Although the three active massive neutrino framework with the Standard Model (SM), so-called the neutrino Standard Model (nuSM), is successful, series of signals not understood within the nuSM suggest neutrino physics may be the first place to see the physics beyond the SM, such as Lorentz violation. Especially, neutrino oscillations are the natural interferometer and they are sensitive to the Lorentz violation. The LSND oscillation signal was analyzed under the Standard Model Extension (SME) framework, and it was found…
Overview of spontaneous Lorentz and CPT breaking mechanism in the context of the standard model contributed to the proceedings for the Coral Gables meeting.
We derive a modified dispersion relation (MDR) in the Lorentz violation extension of quantum electrodynamics (QED) sector in the standard model extension (SME) framework. Based on the extended Dirac equation and corresponding MDR, we observe the resemblance of the Lorentz violation coupling with spin-gravity coupling. We also develop a neutrino oscillation mechanism induced by the presence of nondiagonal terms of Lorentz violation couplings in 2-flavor space in a 2-spinor formalism by explicitly assuming neutrinos to be Marjorana fermions. We also obtain a much stringent bound ($\backsim10^{-2…
Space-based experiments offer sensitivity to numerous unmeasured effects involving Lorentz and CPT violation. We provide a classification of clock sensitivities and present explicit expressions for time variations arising in such experiments from nonzero coefficients in the Lorentz- and CPT-violating Standard-Model Extension.
We consider Lorentz violation in supersymmetric extensions of the standard model. We perform a spurion analysis to show that, in the simplest natural constructions, the resulting supersymmetry-breaking masses are tiny. In the process, we argue that one of the strongest bounds on Lorentz violation in the photon Lagrangian, which comes from the absence of birefringence from distant astrophysical sources, does not apply when Lorentz violation is parametrized by a single vector.
This contribution to the CPT'16 proceedings summarizes recent tests of Lorentz violation in the pure-gravity sector with cosmic rays and reviews recent progress in matter-gravity couplings.
Momentum dependence of quantum corrections with higher-dimensional Lorentz violation is examined in electrodynamics on orbifolds. It is shown that effects of the Lorentz violation are not decoupled at high energy scales. Despite the loss of the higher-dimensional Lorentz invariance, a higher-dimensional Ward identity is found to be fulfilled for one-loop vacuum polarization. This implies that gauge invariance may be prior to Lorentz invariance as a guiding principle in higher-dimensional field theory. As a universal application of electrodynamics, an extra-dimensional aspect for Furry's theore…
An overview of recent progress on testing Lorentz and CPT symmetry using Penning traps is presented. The theory of quantum electrodynamics with Lorentz-violating operators of mass dimensions up to six is summarized. Dominant shifts in the cyclotron and anomaly frequencies of the confined particles and antiparticles due to Lorentz and CPT violation are derived. Existing results of the comparisons of charge-to-mass ratios and magnetic moments involving protons, antiprotons, electrons, and positrons are used to constrain various coefficients for Lorentz violation.
The explicit one-loop renormalizability of the gluon sector of QCD with Lorentz violation is demonstrated. The result is consistent with multiplicative renormalization as the required counter terms are consistent with a single re-scaling of the Lorentz-violation parameters. In addition, the resulting beta functions indicate that the CPT-even Lorentz-violating terms increase with energy scale in opposition to the asymptotically free gauge coupling and CPT-odd terms. The calculations are performed at lowest-order in the Lorentz-violating terms as they are assumed small.
The explicit one-loop renormalizability of pure Yang-Mills theory with Lorentz violation is demonstrated. The result is consistent with multiplicative renormalization as the required counter terms are consistent with a single re-scaling of the Lorentz-violation parameters. In addition, the resulting beta functions indicate that the CPT-even Lorentz-violating terms increase with energy scale in opposition to the asymptotically free gauge coupling and CPT-odd terms. The calculations are performed at lowest-order in the Lorentz-violating terms as they are assumed small.
In this talk, we explore the relation between smoothly varying couplings and Lorentz violation. Within the context of a supergravity model, we present an explicit mechanism that causes the effective fine-structure parameter and the effective electromagnetic $θ$ angle to acquire related spacetime dependences. We argue that this leads to potentially observable Lorentz violation and discuss some implications for the Standard-Model Extension.
