Generalized bumblebee models and Lorentz-violating electrodynamics

TL;DR

This paper explores generalized bumblebee models where Lorentz symmetry is spontaneously broken by a vector field, leading to direction-dependent photon propagation and potential observable effects in experiments and cosmic observations.

Contribution

It applies the interpretation of Lorentz-violating field perturbations as photons to generalized bumblebee models, deriving physical implications and experimental bounds.

Findings

Photon speed depends on direction, differing from matter speed.

Experimental bounds constrain Lorentz-violating parameters.

Measurable effects in resonator, accelerator, and cosmic ray experiments.

Abstract

The breaking of Lorentz symmetry via a dynamical mechanism, with a tensor field which takes on a non-zero expectation value in vacuum, has been a subject of significant research activity in recent years. In certain models of this type, the perturbations of the "Lorentz-violating field" about this background may be identified with known forces. I present the results of applying this interpretation to the "generalized bumblebee models" found in a prior work. In this model, the perturbations of a Lorentz-violating vector field can be interpreted as a photon field. However, the speed of propagation of this "bumblebee photon" is direction-dependent and differs from the limiting speed of conventional matter, leading to measurable physical effects. Bounds on the parameters of this theory can then be derived from resonator experiments, accelerator physics, and cosmic ray observations.