quantum field theory with lorentz violation
TRANSCRIPT
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Quantum Field Theory
With Lorentz Violation
Brett Altschul
University of South Carolina
May 22, 2021
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We have been testing relativity experimentally
for a long time.
The first good test was done in 1887, before
special relativity was even understood.
Michelson & Morley, 1887
And even 134 years later, Lorentz tests are still
an active area of experimentation.
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In the last twenty-five years, there has been
growing interest in the possibility that Lorentz
and CPT symmetries may not be exact.
There are two broad reasons for this interest:
Reason One: Many theories that have been
put forward as candidates to explain quantum
gravity involve LV in some regime.
(For example, string theory, non-commutative
geometry, loop quantum gravity…)
Introduction
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Reason Two: Lorentz symmetry is a basic
building block of both quantum field theory and
the General Theory of Relativity, which together
describe all observed phenomena.
Anything this fundamental should be tested.
Much of the story of modern theoretical
physics is how important symmetries do not
hold exactly.
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Ultimately, we don’t know where Lorentz
violation might come from. However, any
theory with CPT violation must also be Lorentz-
violating.
[Greenberg, PRL 89, 231602 (2002)]
Without evidence for LV, it makes sense to have
a systematic framework for searching for it.
This framework is the SME, an effective field
theory.
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Lorentz and CPT violation in quantum field
theories are reasonably well formulated.
However, things are much more complicated in
geometrodynamic theories of gravitation.
QFT in Space-Time
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The simplest interacting QFT involves a Lorentz
scalar field.
The terms that are bilinear in the field control
propagation, and the higher order terms
describe interactions, normally treated
perturbatively.
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The scalar field 𝜙 obeys a self-coupled Klein-
Gordon equation, which found by varying the
action 𝑑4𝑥 L.
𝜕2 +𝑚2 𝜙 = −1
3!𝜙3
The field itself is a quantum-mechanical field,
which creates and annihilates momentum
eigenstates of the field.
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Whether you base the theory on field operators
or a path integral, the propagator is based
inverting the bilinear Lagrangian.
In order to do quantitative calculations of
anything except free particle propagation, you
need not just an understood Laplacian...
...but also Green’s functions of the Helmholtz
equation/free Dirac equation/Maxwell’s....
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More important than scalar fields are fermion
fields 𝜓. Free fermions obey the Dirac
equation.
𝑖𝜕𝜇𝛾𝜇 −𝑚 𝜓 = 0
The 𝛾𝜇 are 4 x 4 anticommuting matrices, so
this is really 4 coupled equations.
The values of the field 𝜓 also anticommute at
spacelike-separated points (Fermi statistics).
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Standard Model Extension (SME)
Idea: Look for all operators that can contribute
to Lorentz violation.[Kostelecký and Colladay, PRD 58, 116002 (1998)]
Then one usually adds restrictions:
• locality
• superficial renormalizability
• gauge invariance
• etc...
Many other formalisms turn out to be special
cases of the SME.
YLC USUSU )1()2()3( ´´
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Lorentz violating operators have objects built
up from standard model fields, contracted with
constant background tensors.
Earth-based laboratories will see slightly
different local physics as the planet rotates and
revolves.
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The Lagrange density for a Lorentz-violating
free fermion theory is:
a, b, e, and g also violate CPT.
A separate set of coefficients will exist for every
elementary particle in the theory.
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When Lorentz symmetry is broken, angular
momentum is not conserved.
One can look for this effect directly—by looking
for wobbling in pulsars, for example. The
effective moment of inertia of a pulsar is:
𝐼𝑗𝑘 = 𝐼0 𝛿𝑗𝑘 +1
2𝑐 𝑗𝑘
The observed absence of wobbles lets one
place bounds of on the neutron c.[BA, PRD 75, 023001 (2006)]
810-
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The photon sector contains more superficially
renormalizable couplings.
( ) ( )1 1 1
4 4 2F AFF F k F F k A F
mmn mn rs n mnmn mnrsmnus
e= - - +L
Most of these couplings are easy to constrain
with astrophysical polarimetry.
However, some will require more complicated
measurements (e.g., with resonant cavities, or
charged particle reaction kinematics).
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The non-birefringent photon coefficients are
However, they can be defined away by a change
of coordinates
( ) kgkgkgkgkF
~~~~21 +−−=
xkxxx~
21−=→
This makes the photon sector conventional, but
it moves the LV to the matter sector.
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If we define away the non-birefringent photon
LV, the fermion coefficients become
The physically observable quantity is
. This measures whether the natural
coordinates in the electromagnetic sector are
skewed relative to the natural coordinates for
the fermions.
Every sector has a set of c-like coefficients.
kccc~
21−=→
kc~
21−
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Bounds based on electron-photon reaction
thresholds (like vacuum Cerenkov radiation)
are really bounds on these differences of
coefficients in two different sectors.
It is often convenient to simply define our
coordinates so that the electromagnetic LV
vanishes.
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Any (reasonable-looking) theory with CPT
violation must also be Lorentz-violating.
[Greenberg, PRL 89, 231602 (2002)]
The classical CPT Theorem assumed locality,
but Greenberg’s proof does not use a locality
condition. Only the preconditions for a well-
defined S-matrix (e.g. a stable vacuum,
unitarity) are required.
CPT Violation
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So CPTV in an otherwise well-behaved theory
implies LV. But the converse certainly does not
hold.
Naively, the SME coefficients appear to be CPT-
even or -odd according to how many Lorentz
indices they carry.
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Those CPT properties come from the discrete
symmetries of the Dirac bilinears, which are
tabulated in every book on relativistic quantum
mechanics.
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But this turns out to be wrong as well. The f
coefficient proves this point.
The physics of f are no different than the
physics of a c. By a change in the
representation of the Dirac matrices, f may be
converted into
𝑐𝜈𝜇′ =
𝑓𝜇𝑓𝜈
𝑓21 − 𝑓2 − 1 ≈ −
1
2𝑓𝜇𝑓𝜈
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The fact that the induced c is quadratic in f
ensures that the theory with an apparently CPT-
odd f is maps onto a CPT-even theory.
In a massless theory, the same things happens
with e.
Just as the CPT operator depends on the
choice of Dirac matrices, it also depends on
the SME terms. If we add an f to the
Lagrangian, we must change .
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Completely characterizing which forms of LV
lead to CPTV is still a challenge, even if we may
think we know the answers.
The most concrete hypothesis is that any
theory with CPTV will have a vacuum
expectation value
… where the operator O has odd indices.
O 0
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Of course, many of the physical effects that can
be attributed to the various SME coefficients
are clearly describable by their CPT parity.
From this, it is known that a (when physical), b,
e (when physical at leading order), g, and also
for photons generate CPTV.
kAF
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The Non-Relativistic mSME
The nonrelativistic mSME Hamiltonian can be
determined by the usual method of Foldy-
Wouthuysen transformations.
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The Foldy-Wouthuysen transformations work
much as usual, splitting H into odd and even
parts.
Only the two parts of the Hamiltonian are much
more complicated.
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Only certain combinations of the SME
coefficients are observable in the strictly
nonrelativistic limit.
𝑖𝜕0 ≈ 𝑚𝛾0 ≈ 1
The operators that differ by only these factors
collapse into indistinguishability.
The SME coefficients multiply operators with
derivatives and Dirac matrices. However, at low
energies
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Remember, the Lagrange density for a Lorentz-
violating free fermion theory is:
This bilinear Lagrangian can be used to derive
the usual propagators and external leg factors
for Feynman diagram calculations.
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Vertices can be derived similarly from
interactions. This makes possible scattering
calculations involving conventional processes
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… or processes that cannot occur without LV,
such as vacuum Cerenkov radiation
… or photon decay, .
However, there is not yet a complete analysis of
the decay of massless particles.
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Including all possible SME terms can be very
onerous. It is generally best to eliminate any
that cannot contribute (for symmetry reasons)
before beginning.
This difficulty is even more evident for
radiative corrections.
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The one-loop renormalization of the minimal
SME has basically been accomplished.
However, interpreting finite radiative
corrections can be tricky. In gauge theories,
there are new terms that may violate gauge
invariance, which are automatically zero in
Lorentz invariant theories.
Generalizations such as finite temperature
field theory have barely been explored.
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The Feynman rules are not necessarily simple.
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There may also be a lot of diagrams.
This is not necessarily quite as bad as it looks,
however, since a lot of the propagators have
the same denominators.
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The b-functions for the various SME
coefficients can tell us whether quantum
corrections enhance or suppress LV.
(These corrections show
that couplings can
change according to
the length/energy scale.)
However, this is tricky. The b-functions may
depend on the renormalization scheme (at one
loop, as opposed to the three loops in the SM).
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Coupling constant running takes us into the
beginning of the nonperturbative regime.
There are a lot of puzzles regarding LV in
nonperturbative (e.g., hadronic) physics.
For hadrons, we are beginning
to make progress using chiral
perturbation theory, but there
is still a lot to understand.
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Summary
We know a lot about the SME as a quantum
field theory. We can calculate cross sections
processes and radiative corrections.
However, there are many,
many more subtle ques-
tions about the structure
of the theory that have
not been answered.
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That’s all, folks!
Thanks to V. A. Kostelecký, M. Schindler, A. Ferrero, and all my current students.