Lorentz Symmetry Violations in High-Energy Physics
Summary
Lorentz symmetry underpins both the Standard Model of particle physics and General Relativity, asserting that the laws of physics remain invariant under rotations and boosts in spacetime. Nevertheless, various approaches to quantum gravity and unified theories suggest that this symmetry may be only approximate, with tiny violations emerging at energies approaching the Planck scale. Such departures can manifest as modified dispersion relations, anisotropic propagation of particles and fields, or the appearance of preferred spacetime directions. High-energy experiments and astrophysical observations provide complementary arenas in which to search for these effects, using precision measurements of neutrino oscillations, gravitational waves, cosmic rays and cosmological evolution. Constraints on Lorentz-violating coefficients thus probe foundational questions about spacetime structure, informing both theoretical model building and the design of future facilities.
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Lorentz Symmetry Violations in High-Energy Physics publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in lorentz symmetry violations in high-energy physics across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Lorentz invariance: The principle that physical laws are unchanged under rotations and boosts in spacetime.
Effective field theory: A framework that captures low-energy phenomena by including all operators consistent with symmetries, suppressed by a high-energy scale.
Vacuum expectation value: The average value of a field in its lowest-energy state, which can spontaneously break symmetries if nonzero.
CPT symmetry: The combined invariance under charge conjugation, parity transformation and time reversal, closely linked to Lorentz invariance.
Dispersion relation: A formula relating a particle’s energy to its momentum, whose modification can signal Lorentz violation.
References
- Constraining Lorentz invariance violation with next-generation long-baseline experiments. Journal of High Energy Physics (2023).
- Constraining the Lorentz-violating bumblebee vector field with big bang nucleosynthesis and gravitational baryogenesis. European Physical Journal C (2023).
- Gravitational waves effects in a Lorentz–violating scenario. Physics Letters B (2024).
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