Finite Duration and Energy Effects in Lorentz-Violating Vacuum Cerenkov Radiation

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Lorentz-violating modifications to the photon sector affect vacuum Cerenkov radiation, emphasizing the importance of high-frequency spectrum behavior and energy loss in finite-duration emissions.

Contribution

It analyzes the impact of high-frequency cutoffs on the character and energy loss rates of vacuum Cerenkov radiation in Lorentz-violating theories.

Findings

High-frequency cutoff influences total energy loss rate.

Spectrum behavior varies with energy-momentum conservation constraints.

Finite duration effects are controlled by high-frequency emission limits.

Abstract

Vacuum Cerenkov radiation is possible in certain Lorentz-violating quantum field theories, when very energetic charges move faster than the phase speed of light. In the presence of a CPT-even, Lorentz-violating modification of the photon sector, the character of the Cerenkov process is controlled by the high-frequency behavior of the radiation spectrum. The development of the Cerenkov process can be markedly different, depending on whether the only limits on the emission of very energetic photons come from energy-momentum conservation or whether there are additional effects that cut off the spectrum at high frequencies. Moreover, since the high-frequency cutoff determines the total rate at which an emitting charge loses energy, it also controls all aspects of the emission that are related to the process's finite duration.