Lorentz symmetry breaking as a quantum field theory regulator
Matt Visser
备注：
15 pages; 3 figures; V2: five references added, two minor typos fixed. no change in physics; V3: seven pages, zero figures, various references added and updated, discussion somewhat streamlined. no change in physics. This version accepted for publication in Physical Review D
Perturbative expansions of relativistic quantum field theories typically contain ultraviolet divergences requiring regularization and renormalization. Many different regularization techniques have been developed over the years, but most regularizations require severe mutilation of the logical foundations of the theory. In contrast, breaking Lorentz invariance, while it is certainly a radical step, at least does not damage the logical foundations of the theory. We shall explore the features of a Lorentz symmetry breaking regulator in a simple polynomial scalar field theory, and discuss its implications. We shall quantify just "how much" Lorentz symmetry breaking is required to fully regulate the theory and render it finite. This scalar field theory provides a simple way of understanding many of the key features of Horava's recent article [arXiv:0901.3775 [hep-th]] on 3+1 dimensional quantum gravity.
We examine the nonperturbative structure of the radiatively induced Chern-Simons term in a Lorentz- and CPT-violating modification of QED. Although the coefficient of the induced Chern-Simons term is in general undetermined, the nonperturbative theory appears to generate a definite value. However, the CPT-even radiative corrections in this same formulation of the theory generally break gauge invariance. We show that gauge invariance may yet be preserved through the use of a Pauli-Villars regulator, and, contrary to earlier expectations, this regulator does not necessarily give rise to a vanish…
We show how a mass mixing matrix can be generated dynamically, for two massless fermion flavours coupled to a Lorentz invariance violating (LIV) gauge field. The LIV features play the role of a regulator for the gap equations, and the non-analytic dependence of the dynamical masses, as functions of the gauge coupling, allows to consider the limit where the LIV gauge field eventually decouples from the fermions. Lorentz invariance is then recovered, to describe the oscillation between two free fermion flavours, and we check that the finite dynamical masses are the only effects of the original L…
A scalar field can be inserted in Maxwell and/or Einstein theory to effect symmetry breaking. Consequences of such a modification are discussed. Possible dynamics for the scalar field are presented.
We obtain an exact Kerr-like black hole solution by solving the corresponding gravitational field equations in Einstein-bumblebee gravity model where Lorentz symmetry is spontaneously broken once a vector field acquires a vacuum expectation value. Results are presented for the purely radial Lorentz symmetry breaking. In order to study the effects of this breaking, we consider the black hole shadow and find that the radial of the unstable spherical orbit on the equatorial plane $r_c$ decreases with the Lorentz breaking constant $\ell>0$, and increases with $\ell<0$. These shifts are similar to …
We investigate the possibility of the acoustic superresonance phenomenon (analog to the superradiance in black hole physics), i.e., the amplification of a sound wave by reflection from the ergoregion of a rotating acoustic black hole with Lorentz symmetry breaking. For rotating black holes the effect of superradiance corresponds to the situation where the incident waves has reflection coefficient greater than one, and energy is extracted from them. For an acoustic Kerr-like black hole its rate of loss of mass is affected by the Lorentz symmetry breaking. We also have shown that for suitable va…
Spontaneous breaking of Lorentz symmetry has been suggested as a possible mechanism that might occur in the context of a fundamental Planck-scale theory, such as string theory or a quantum theory of gravity. However, if Lorentz symmetry is spontaneously broken, two sets of questions immediately arise: what is the fate of the Nambu-Goldstone modes, and can a Higgs mechanism occur? A brief summary of some recent work looking at these questions is presented here.
In this paper, phase transition of AdS black holes in lorentz breaking massive gravity has been studied in the framework of holography. We find that there is a first order phase transition(FPT) and second order phase transition(SPT) both in Bekenstein-Hawking entropy(BHE)-temperature plane and holographic entanglement entropy(HEE)-temperature plane. Furthermore, for the FPT, the equal area law is checked and for the SPT, the critical exponent of the heat capacity is also computed. Our results confirm that the phase structure of HEE is similar to that of BHE in lorentz breaking massive gravity,…
In this work we develop a re-formulation of quantum field theory through the more general weighted Lorentz invariant measures that the definition of quantum fields allows; this approach provides finite answers for the long-live problems of the traditional formulations of quantum field theories, namely, smooth distributions for the field commutators that are finite a short distances, finite vacuum expectation values for the energy (without invoking normal ordering of operators), and finite fluctuations for the field operators. Our construction is based on a critical point of view on conventiona…
In this book, we review various aspects of the Lorentz symmetry breaking, both classical and quantum ones, with the special interest to perturbative generation of Lorentz-breaking terms. We present impacts of Lorentz symmetry breaking in noncommutative and supersymmetric theories. Also, we discuss the problem of Lorentz symmetry breaking in a curved space-time. The book is closed with a review of experimental studies of Lorentz symmetry breaking.
We set up a covariant renormalisation group equation on a foliated spacetime which preserves background diffeomorphism symmetry. As a first application of the new formalism, we study the effect of quantum fluctuations in Lorentz symmetry breaking theories of quantum gravity. It is found that once a small breaking is introduced e.g. at the Planck scale, quantum fluctuations enhance this breaking at low energies. A numerical analysis shows that the magnification is of order unity for trajectories compatible with a small cosmological constant. The immediate consequence is that the stringent obser…
We consider some aspects of spontaneous breaking of Lorentz Invariance in field theories, discussing the possibility that the certain tensor operators may condensate in the ground state in which case the tensor Goldstone particles would appear. We analyze their dynamics and discuss to which extent such a theory could imitate the gravity. We are also interested if the universality of coupling of such `gravitons' with other particles can be achieved in the infrared limit. Then we address the more complicated models when such tensor Goldstones coexist with the usual geometrical gravitons. At the …
In the Ashtekar-Barbero formulation of canonical general relativity based on an SU(2) connection, Lorentz covariance is a subtle issue which has been the focus of some debate. Here we present a Lorentz covariant formulation generalising the notion of a foliation of spacetime to a field of local observers which specify a time direction only locally. This field spontaneously breaks the local SO(3,1) symmetry down to a subgroup SO(3); we show that the apparent symmetry breaking to SO(3) is not in conflict with Lorentz covariance. We give a geometric picture of our construction as Cartan geometrod…
In Vaidya-Bonner de Sitter Black hole space-time, the tunneling radiation characteristics of fermions and bosons are corrected by taking Lorentz symmetry breaking theory into account. The corresponding gamma matrices and ether-like field vectors of the black hole are constructed, then the new modified form of Dirac equation for the fermion with spin 1/2 and the new modified form of Klein-Gordon equation for boson in the curved space-time of the black hole are obtained. Through solving the two equations, new and corrected expressions of surface gravity, Hawking temperature and tunneling rate of…
The Abraham-Lorentz force is a finite remnant of the UV singular structure of the self interaction of a point charge with its own field. The satisfactory description of such interaction needs a relativistic regulator. This turns out to be a problematic point because the energy of regulated relativistic cutoff theories is unbounded from below. However one can construct point splitting regulators which keep the Abraham-Lorentz force stable. The classical language can be reconciled with QED by pointing out that the effective quantum theory for the electric charge supports a saddle point producing…
In this paper, we investigate the thermal effect on the Casimir energy associated with a massive scalar quantum field confined between two large parallel plates in a CPT-even, aether-like Lorentz-breaking scalar field theory. In order to do that we consider a nonzero chemical potential for the scalar field assumed to be in thermal equilibrium at some finite temperature. The calculations of the energies are developed by using the Abel-Plana summation formula, and the corresponding results are analyzed in several asymptotic regimes of the parameters of the system, like mass, separations between …
To help focus ideas regarding possible routes to the breakdown of Lorentz invariance, it is extremely useful to explore concrete physical models that exhibit similar phenomena. In particular, acoustics in Bose--Einstein condensates has the interesting property that at low-momentum the phonon dispersion relation can be written in a ``relativistic'' form exhibiting an approximate ``Lorentz invariance''. Indeed all of low-momentum phonon physics in this system can be reformulated in terms of relativistic curved-space quantum field theory. In contrast, high-momentum phonon physics probes regions w…
In this paper, we consider the perturbative generation of the CPT-even aether-like Lorentz-breaking term in the extended Lorentz-breaking QED within different approaches and discuss its ambiguities.
We construct an action which is invariant under the foliation preserving diffeomorphism from the Einstein Hilbert action. Starting from the Einstein Hilbert action, we introduce the gauge invariance under the anisotropic rescaling by using the Stückelberg method. We then introduce the gauge field corresponds to the anisotropic rescaling, and the Stückelberg field turns out to be the Nambu-Goldstone boson. The Nambu-Goldstone boson, however, is not completely eaten by the massive gauge field and the Nambu-Goldstone boson can be integrated out from the action. Then the resultant action is a Hora…
We discuss spherically symmetric solutions for point-like sources in Lorentz-breaking massive gravity theories. This analysis is valid for Stückelberg's effective field theory formulation, for Lorentz Breaking Massive Bigravity and general extensions of gravity leading to an extra term $-Sr^γ$ added to the Newtonian potential. The approach consists in analyzing the stability of the geodesic equations, at the first order (deviation equation). The main result is a strong constrain in the space of parameters of the theories. This motivates higher order analysis of geodesic perturbations in order …
In this paper, we consider the finite temperature behaviour of the CPT-even aether-like Lorentz-breaking term in the extended Lorentz-breaking QED and demonstrate that its ambiguities whose presence has been shown earlier in the zero temperature case stay also at the finite temperature.
Within the superfield approach, we formulate the superfield supersymmetric aether-like Lorentz-breaking models, both in three- and in four-dimensional cases.
In this paper, we use gauge embedding procedure and master action approach to establish the equivalence between the self-dual and Maxwell-Chern-Simons models with Lorentz symmetry breaking. As a result, new kinds of Lorentz-breaking terms arise.
The four dimensional Lorentz-breaking finite and determined Chern-Simons like action is generated as a one loop perturbative correction via an appropriate Lorentz-breaking coupling of the gauge field with the spinor field. Unlike the known schemes of calculations, within this scheme this term is found to be regularization independent.
The lagrangian-based Standard-Model Extension framework offers a broad description of possible gravitational effects from local Lorentz violation. In this talk, I review the status of the theoretical and phenomenological work in this area. The extension of previous results in linearized gravity to the nonlinear regime is discussed.
In this paper we derive acoustic black hole metrics in the (3+1) and (2+1)-dimensional Abelian Higgs model with Lorentz symmetry breaking. In this set up the sound waves lose the Lorentz boost invariance and suffer a 'birefringence' effect. We have found acoustic black holes and respective Hawking temperatures depending on the Lorentz violating parameter. Furthermore, we obtain an acoustic Kerr-like black hole metric with the Lorentz violating term affecting its rate of loss of mass. We also have shown that for suitable values of the Lorentz violating parameter a wider spectrum of particle wav…
We study the effect of spontaneous breaking of Lorentz invariance on black hole thermodynamics. We consider a scenario where Lorentz symmetry breaking manifests itself by the difference of maximal velocities attainable by particles of different species in a preferred reference frame. The Lorentz breaking sector is represented by the ghost condensate. We find that the notions of black hole entropy and temperature loose their universal meaning. In particular, the standard derivation of the Hawking radiation yields that a black hole does emit thermal radiation in any given particle species, but w…
We study the vacuum solutions of a gravity model where Lorentz symmetry is spontaneously broken once a vector field acquires a vacuum expectation value. Results are presented for the purely radial Lorentz symmetry breaking (LSB), radial/temporal LSB and axial/temporal LSB. The purely radial LSB result corresponds to new black hole solutions. When possible, Parametrized Post-Newtonian (PPN) parameters are computed and observational boundaries used to constrain the Lorentz symmetry breaking scale.
The gauge-invariant Chern-Simons-type Lorentz- and CPT-breaking term is here reassessed and a spin-projector method is adopted to account for the breaking (vector) parameter. Issues like causality, unitarity, spontaneous gauge-symmetry breaking and vortex formation are investigated, and consistency conditions on the external vector are identified.
This paper is devoted to investigating the interactions between stationary sources of the electromagnetic field, in a model which exhibits explicit Lorentz-symmetry breaking due to the presence of a single background vector. We focus on physical phenomena that emerge from this kind of breaking and which have no counterpart in Maxwell Electrodynamics.
A four-dimensional Lorentz-breaking non-Abelian Chern-Simons like action is generated as a one-loop perturbative correction via an appropriate Lorentz-breaking coupling of the non-Abelian gauge field to the spinor field. This term is shown to be regularization dependent but nevertheless it can be found unambiguously in different regularization schemes at zero and finite temperature.
We consider new issues of duality in four-dimensional Lorentz-breaking field theories. In particular, we demonstrate that the arising of the aether-like Lorentz-breaking term is necessary in order for the 4D models to display the duality analog between the MCS and self-dual models in 3D. We further study the dispersion relations in both theories and discuss the physical contents of the models involved in this new dualilty.
It is shown the existence of a static self-dual semilocal vortex configuration for the Maxwell-Higgs system with a Lorentz-violating CPT-even term. The dependence of the vorticity upper limit on the Lorentz-break term is also investigated.
We demonstrate the generation of the CPT-even, aether-like Lorentz-breaking actions for the scalar and electromagnetic fields via their appropriate Lorentz-breaking coupling to spinor fields in three, four and five space-time dimensions. Besides, we show that the aether-like terms for the spinor field also can be generated as a consequence of the same couplings. Also we discuss the dispersion relations in the theories with aether-like Lorentz-breaking terms and find the tree-level effective (Breit) potential for fermion scattering and the one-loop effective potential corresponding to the actio…
The first one-loop higher-derivative contribution to the effective action of the Lorentz-breaking spinor QED is obtained and shown to be finite and ambiguous.
We present a Lorentz-breaking supersymmetric algebra characterized by a critical exponent $z$. Such construction requires a non trivial modification of the supercharges and superderivatives. The improvement of renormalizability for supersymmetric scalar QED is shown and the Kählerian effective potentials are calculated in different cases. We also show how the theory flows naturally to the Lorentz symmetric case at low energies.
In this paper, we describe the perturbative generation of the higher-derivative Lorentz-breaking terms for the gauge field, that is, the Myers-Pospelov term and the higher-derivative Carroll-Field-Jackiw term. These terms are explicitly calculated in the one-loop approximation and shown to be finite and ambiguous.
In this paper, we study the spontaneous Lorentz symmetry breaking for a four-dimensional massless four-fermion model. Our methodology is based on use of the rationalized propagator. We show that a bumblebee potential arises as a result of one-loop calculations and displays nontrivial minima. Also we demonstrate that a phase transition restoring Lorentz invariance can occur at a finite temperature.
It is shown that a spontaneously-broken gauge theory of the Lorentz group contains Ashtekar's chiral formulation of General Relativity accompanied by dust. From this perspective, gravity is described entirely by a connection $ω$ valued in the Lie algebra of the complexified Lorentz group and a Lorentz-charged scalar field $τ$. The model is "pre-geometric" in the sense that the spacetime metric may be constructed only in the symmetry-broken regime. We speculate on the extent to which this dust may account for dark matter and on the behaviour of the theory in regimes where the symmetry is not br…
In this work we derive the Lorentz-PCT-violating effective action for a fermion in a constant and uniform electromagnetic field using the Fock-Schwinger proper time method and extract the exact value of the coefficient of the nonperturbatively induced Chern-Simons term.
We consider the abelian vector-field models in the presence of the Wess-Zumino interaction with the pseudoscalar matter. The occurence of the dynamic breaking of Lorentz symmetry at classical and one-loop level is described for massless and massive vector fields. This phenomenon appears to be the non-perturbative counterpart of the perturbative renormalizability and/or unitarity breaking in the chiral gauge theories.
One kind of spontaneous (2+1)-dimensional Lorentz symmetry breaking is discussed. The symmetry breaking pattern is $SO(2,1)\rightarrow SO(1,1)$. Using the coset construction formalism, we derive the Goldstone covariant derivative and the associated covariant gauge field. Finally, the two-derivative low-energy effective action of the Nambu-Goldstone bosons is obtained.
In this work, we discuss the relativistic Landau-He-McKellar-Wilkens quantization and relativistic bound states solutions for a Dirac neutral particle under the influence of a Coulomb-like potential induced by the Lorentz symmetry breaking effects. We present new possible scenarios of studying Lorentz symmetry breaking effects by fixing the space-like vector field background in special configurations. It is worth mentioning that we use the criterion for studying the violation of Lorentz symmetry is that the gauge symmetry should be preserved.
The dependence of function renormalization group equation on regulators is investigated. A parameter is introduced to control the suppression of regulators. Functional renormalization group equations will become regulator-independent if this newly introduced parameter is sent to infinity in the end of calculation. One-loop renormalization flow equations of QCD are derived. The novelty is that both the coupling running equation and the mass running equation are mass-dependent. Different flow patterns are explored. A mechanism for non-occurrence of dynamical chiral symmetry breaking is arrived a…
The propagation of electromagnetic waves in a Lorentz-symmetry violating scenario where there is a region of polarized vacuum is studied. It turns out that the photon field acquires an interesting polarization state, possibly useful to set up upper bounds in Lorentz-violating models at laboratory scales.
In this paper we deal with the issue of Lorentz symmetry breaking in quantum field theories formulated in a non-commutative space-time. We show that, unlike in some recente analysis of quantum gravity effects, supersymmetry does not protect the theory from the large Lorentz violating effects arising from the loop corrections. We take advantage of the non-commutative Wess-Zumino model to illustrate this point.
A scenario is presented on how to shift the predicted cutoff in the cosmic ray spectrum at 10**20 eV, called the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin limit (GKZ), to larger energies without breaking the Lorentz invariance. The formulation is based on a pseudo-complex extension of standard field theory. The dispersion relation of particles can be changed, leading to a modification of the GKZ limit. Maximal shifts are determined.
In this work, we present two possible venues to accomodate the $K_{F}$-type Lorentz-symmetry violating Electrodynamics in an $N=1$-supersymmetric framework. A chiral and a vector superfield are chosen to describe the background that signals Lorentz-symmetry breaking. In each case, the $\ K_{μνκλ}$-tensor is expressed in terms of the components of the background superfield that we choose to describe the breaking. We also present in detail the actions with all fermionic partners of the background that determine $\ K_{μνκλ}$.
A method is presented for deducing classical point-particle Lagrange functions corresponding to a class of quartic dispersion relations. Applying this to particles violating Lorentz symmetry in the minimal Standard-Model Extension leads to a variety of novel lagrangians in flat spacetime. Morphisms in these classical systems are studied that echo invariance under field redefinitions in the quantized theory. The Lagrange functions found offer new possibilities for understanding Lorentz-breaking effects by exploring parallels with Finsler-like geometries.
We analyze the role of Lorentz symmetry in the perturbative non-gravitational anomalies for a single family of fermions. The theory is assumed to be translational invariant, power-counting renormalizable and based on a local action, but is allowed to have general Lorentz violating operators. We study the conservation of global and gauge currents associate with general internal symmetry groups and find, by using a perturbative approach, that Lorentz symmetry does not participate in the clash of symmetries that leads to the anomalies. We first analyze the triangle graphs and prove that there are…
We consider the two-point function of the gauge field in Lorentz-breaking theories with higher-derivative extension of the Dirac Lagrangian. We show that the Carroll-Field-Jackiw term naturally arises in this theory as a quantum correction being perfectly finite and thus displaying no ambiguities. Also, the finiteness of this term at low energy limit and the absence of large Lorentz violating corrections allows to avoid the fine-tuning problem.
We continue the study of covariant power-counting renormalizable gravity constrained by scalar Lagrange multiplier. Lorentz symmetry breaking is investigated in such a theory in comparison with the one in ghost condensation model. Covariant power-counting renormalizable vector gravity which is invariant under $U(1)$ gauge symmetry is proposed. Several forms of vector Lagrange multiplier in this theory are discussed. It is shown that covariant scalar/vector gravity under consideration may have power-law or de Sitter accelerating cosmological solution corresponding to inflationary era. Simplest …
The requirement for the absence of spontaneous symmetry breaking in the d=1 dimension has been used to optimize the regulator dependence of functional renormalization group equations in the framework of the sine-Gordon scalar field theory. Results obtained by the optimization of this kind were compared to those of the Litim-Pawlowski and the principle of minimal sensitivity optimization scenarios. The optimal parameters of the compactly supported smooth (CSS) regulator, which recovers all major types of regulators in appropriate limits, have been determined beyond the local potential approxima…
Many candidate fundamental theories contain scalar fields that can acquire spacetime-varying expectation values in a cosmological context. Such scalars typically obey Lorentz-violating effective dispersion relations. We illustrate this fact within a simple supergravity model that also exhibits the observed late-time cosmological acceleration and implies varying electromagnetic couplings.
According to the long-standing received wisdom, a "small" value of the Higgs mass - as for instance implied by general unitarity constraints - is highly "unnatural" and essentially $\mbox{requires}$ new physics to be present at or near currently accessible energy scales. Following the discovery of a new, Higgslike boson at the LHC facility in 2012, but with no sign of new physics after having explored a large region of parameter space, a dilemma thus seems to present itself : either the newly discovered boson is indeed the long-sought Higgs boson of the standard model of particle physics (or s…
