Presented at the 12th International Conference on Low Energy Antiproton Physics, Kanazawa Japan, March 6-11, 2016, Accepted for publication in JPS Conference Proceedings
A brief introduction to the Standard-Model Extension (SME) approach to testing CPT and Lorentz symmetry is provided. Recent proposals for tests with antimatter are summarized, including gravitational and spectroscopic tests.
We propose a method by which one could use modified antimatter gravity experiments in order to perform a high-precision test of antimatter charge neutrality. The proposal is based on the application of a strong, external, vertically oriented electric field during an antimatter free-fall gravity experiment in the gravitational field of the Earth. The proposed experimental setup has the potential to drastically improve the limits on the charge-asymmetry parameter ${\overline ε}_q$ of antimatter. On the theoretical side, we analyze possibilities to describe a putative charge-asymmetry of matter a…
General relativity (GR) is the current description of gravity in modern physics. One of the cornerstones of GR, as well as Newton's theory of gravity, is the weak equivalence principle (WEP), stating that the trajectory of a freely falling test body is independent of its internal structure and composition. WEP is known to be valid for the normal matter with a high precision. However, due to the rarity of antimatter and weakness of the gravitational forces, the WEP has never been confirmed for antimatter. The current direct bounds on the ratio between the gravitational and inertial masses of th…
In four-space-time dimensional string/brane theory, obtained either through compactification of the extra spatial dimensions, or by appropriate restriction to brane worlds with three large spatial dimensions, the rich physics potential associated with the presence of non-trivial Kalb-Ramond (KR) axion-like fields has not been fully exploited so far. In this talk, I discuss a scenario whereby such fields produce spontaneous Lorentz- and CPT-violating cosmological backgrounds over which strings propagate, which in the early Universe can lead to Baryogenesis through Leptogenesis in models with he…
Experimental tests of the newtonian inverse square law at short range, one at Indiana University and the other at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, have been used to set limits on Lorentz violation in the pure gravity sector of the nonminimal Standard-Model Extension. In the nonrelativistic limit, the constraints derived for the 14 independent SME coefficients for Lorentz violation acting simultaneously are of order $10^{-9}$ m$^{2}$.
The gravitational acceleration of antimatter, $\bar g$, has yet to be directly measured but could change our understanding of gravity, the Universe, and the possibility of a fifth force. Three avenues are apparent for such a measurement: antihydrogen, positronium, and muonium, the last requiring a precision atom interferometer and benefiting from a novel muonium beam under development. The interferometer and its few-picometer alignment and calibration systems appear to be feasible. With 100 nm grating pitch, measurements of $\bar g$ to 10%, 1%, or better can be envisioned. This could constitut…
Lorentz-violating theories of gravity typically contain constrained vector fields. We show that the lowest-order coupling of such vectors to $\mathrm{U}(1)$-symmetric scalars can naturally give rise to baryogenesis in a manner akin to the Affleck-Dine mechanism. We calculate the cosmology of this new mechanism, demonstrating that a net $B-L$ can be generated in the early Universe, and that the resulting baryon-to-photon ratio matches that which is presently observed. We discuss constraints on the model using solar system and astrophysical tests of Lorentz violation in the gravity sector. Gener…
We consider Lorentz-symmetry properties of the ghost-free massive gravity theory proposed by de Rham, Gabadadze, and Tolley. In particular, we present potentially observable effects in gravitational-wave propagation and in Newton's law, including Lorentz-violating signals.
General violations of Lorentz symmetry can be described by the Standard-Model Extension (SME) framework. The SME predicts modifications to existing physics and can be tested in high-precision experiments. By looking for small deviations from Newton gravity, short-range gravity experiments are expected to be sensitive to possible gravitational Lorentz-violation signals. With two group's short-range gravity data analyzed recently, no nonminimal Lorentz violation signal is found at the micron distance scale, which gives stringent constraints on nonminimal Lorentz-violation coefficients in the SME…
This contribution to the CPT'19 meeting provides a brief overview of recent theoretical studies of nonminimal Lorentz violation in linearized gravity. Signatures in gravitational waves from coalescing compact binaries are discussed.
The Newton limit of gravity is studied in the presence of Lorentz-violating gravitational operators of arbitrary mass dimension. The linearized modified Einstein equations are obtained and the perturbative solutions are constructed and characterized. We develop a formalism for data analysis in laboratory experiments testing gravity at short range and demonstrate that these tests provide unique sensitivity to deviations from local Lorentz invariance.
Many new linearized coefficients for Lorentz violation are discovered in our recent work on the construction of a generic Lorentz-violating effective field theory in curved spacetime. The new coefficients can be constrained by experiments in weak gravity fields. In this work, we compare experiments in different gravitational potentials and study three types of gravity-related experiments: free-fall, gravitational interferometer, and gravitational bound-state experiments. First constraints on the new coefficients for Lorentz violation are extracted from those experiments.
The recent advent of high precision antihydrogen spectroscopy opens the way to stringent experimental tests of the fundamental principles underlying particle physics and general relativity (GR), such as Lorentz and CPT invariance and the Einstein Equivalence Principle (EEP), on pure antimatter systems. In this paper, the nature and implications of these tests is investigated, with special reference to the ALPHA antihydrogen programme at CERN. This is underpinned by a theoretical review of the role of antiparticles, causality and fundamental symmetries in relativistic quantum field theory (QFT)…
We construct the general Lorentz-violating effective field theory in curved spacetime and the corresponding nonrelativistic Hamiltonian in the Earth's gravitational field. Applying this general framework to three types of experiments, free-dropping, interferometer, and bound-state experiments, we extract first constraints on certain new coefficients in the matter-gravity sector.
Lorentz and diffeomorphism violations are studied in linearized gravity using effective field theory. A classification of all gauge-invariant and gauge-violating terms is given. The exact covariant dispersion relation for gravitational modes involving operators of arbitrary mass dimension is constructed, and various special limits are discussed.
Clock-comparison experiments are among the sharpest existing tests of Lorentz symmetry in matter. We characterize signals in these experiments arising from modifications to electron or nucleon propagators and involving Lorentz- and CPT-violating operators of arbitrary mass dimension. The spectral frequencies of the atoms or ions used as clocks exhibit perturbative shifts that can depend on the constituent-particle properties and can display sidereal and annual variations in time. Adopting an independent-particle model for the electronic structure and the Schmidt model for the nucleus, we deter…
Lorentz symmetry is an important concept in modern physics. Precision pulsar timing was used to put tight constraints on the coefficients for Lorentz violation in the pure-gravity sector of the Standard-Model Extension (SME). We extend the analysis to Lorentz-violating matter-gravity couplings, utilizing three small-eccentricity relativistic neutron star (NS) -- white dwarf (WD) binaries. We obtain compelling limits on various SME coefficients related to the neutron, the proton, and the electron. These results are complementary to limits obtained from lunar laser ranging and clock experiments.
We explore the interplay of matter with quantum gravity with a preferred frame to highlight that the matter sector cannot be protected from the symmetry-breaking effects in the gravitational sector. Focusing on Abelian gauge fields, we show that quantum gravitational radiative corrections induce Lorentz-invariance-violating couplings for the Abelian gauge field. In particular, we discuss how such a mechanism could result in the possibility to translate observational constraints on Lorentz violation in the matter sector into strong constraints on the Lorentz-violating gravitational couplings.
Short-range experiments testing the gravitational inverse-square law at the submillimeter scale offer uniquely sensitive probes of Lorentz invariance. A combined analysis of results from the short-range gravity experiments HUST-2015, HUST-2011, IU-2012, and IU-2002 permits the first independent measurements of the 14 nonrelativistic coefficients for Lorentz violation in the pure-gravity sector at the level of $10^{-9}$ m$^2$, improving by an order of magnitude the sensitivity to numerous types of Lorentz violation involving quadratic curvature derivatives and curvature couplings.