Spontaneously broken Lorentz invariance from the dynamics of a heavy sterile neutrino

TL;DR

This paper proposes a relativistic model where spontaneous Lorentz symmetry breaking in a heavy sterile neutrino sector leads to neutrino superluminality, consistent with current data and offering testable predictions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism for neutrino superluminality via spontaneous Lorentz violation in a heavy sterile neutrino sector, compatible with existing experiments.

Findings

Lorentz violation arises from spontaneous symmetry breaking in sterile neutrinos.

The model predicts observable effects testable in future experiments.

The theory remains consistent with current neutrino physics data.

Abstract

A relativistic theory for neutrino superluminality is presented (in principle, the same mechanism applies also to other fermions). The theory involves the standard-model particles and one additional heavy sterile neutrino with an energy-scale close to or above the electroweak one, all particles propagating in the usual 3+1 spacetime dimensions. Lorentz violation results from spontaneous symmetry breaking in the sterile-neutrino sector. The theory tries, as far as possible, to be consistent with the existing experimental data from neutrino physics and to keep the number of assumptions minimal. There are clear experimental predictions which can be tested.