Lorentz violation in simple QED processes

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Lorentz-violating non-minimal couplings affect key QED processes and uses experimental data to set upper bounds on these violations.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of Lorentz violation effects on Compton, Bhabha, and electron-positron annihilation processes in QED.

Findings

Upper bounds on Lorentz-violating parameters from scattering data

Constraints derived from para-positronium decay rate

Quantitative limits on CPT-even Lorentz violation in QED

Abstract

We determine the effect of a CPT-even and Lorentz violating non-minimal coupling on the differential cross sections for some of the most important tree-level processes in QED, namely, Compton and Bhabha scatterings, as well as electron-positron annihilation. Experimental limits constraining the allowed deviation of the differential cross sections relative to pure QED allow us to place upper bounds on the Lorentz violating parameters. A constraint based on the decay rate of para-positronium is also obtained.