Cosmic Neutrinos as a Window to Departures from Special Relativity

TL;DR

This paper reviews how high-energy cosmic neutrinos can reveal potential deviations from special relativity, exploring effects of Lorentz invariance violation and deformed relativity models in neutrino physics.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of neutrino phenomenology related to departures from special relativity, including theoretical models and observational challenges.

Findings

Neutrinos can carry signatures of Lorentz invariance violation.

Deformed relativity models predict measurable effects in neutrino behavior.

Future neutrino observations could test quantum gravity theories.

Abstract

We review the peculiarities that make neutrino a very special cosmic messenger in high-energy astrophysics, and, in particular, to provide possible indications of deviations from special relativity, as it is suggested theoretically by quantum gravity models. In this respect, we examine the effects that one could expect in the production, propagation, and detection of neutrinos, not only in the well-studied scenario of Lorentz Invariance Violation, but also in models which maintain, but deform, the relativity principle, such as those considered in the framework of Doubly Special Relativity. We discuss the challenges and the promising future prospects offered by this phenomenological window to physics beyond special relativity.