Limits on isotropic Lorentz violation in QED from collider physics

TL;DR

This paper constrains isotropic Lorentz violation in QED by analyzing collider data, significantly tightening existing bounds and discussing future prospects for detection or further limits.

Contribution

It provides the most stringent laboratory bounds on isotropic Lorentz violation in QED using collider data, surpassing previous measurements by 3-4 orders of magnitude.

Findings

Bounds on Lorentz violation parameter at the level of 10^{-12}

No evidence of vacuum Cherenkov radiation or photon decay at high energies

Discussion of potential improvements with future experiments

Abstract

We consider the possibility that Lorentz violation can generate differences between the limiting velocities of light and charged matter. Such effects would lead to efficient vacuum Cherenkov radiation or rapid photon decay. The absence of such effects for 104.5 GeV electrons at the Large Electron Positron collider and for 300 GeV photons at the Tevatron therefore constrains this type of Lorentz breakdown. Within the context of the standard-model extension, these ideas imply an experimental bound at the level of -5.8 x 10^{-12} <= \tilde{\kappa}_{tr}-(4/3)c_e^{00} <= 1.2 x 10^{-11} tightening existing laboratory measurements by 3-4 orders of magnitude. Prospects for further improvements with terrestrial and astrophysical methods are discussed.