Violations of Lorentz invariance and the connection to cosmic particles

by Marcus Niechciol (University of Siegen)

Thursday 9 Feb 2023, 11:00 → 13:00 Europe/Warsaw

Lorentz invariance, i.e., the notion that the laws of physics should stay the same regardless of how an observer moves, is one of the pillars of modern physics. Yet, current efforts to construct a more fundamental theory beyond the standard model of particle physics open up a small window for violations of Lorentz invariance. Cosmic particles offer unique possibilities to search for such violations and thus test Lorentz invariance at energy scales far beyond the reach of man-made particle accelerators. Focussing on one specific theory framework, the talk will discuss how bounds on Lorentz violation within this framework have been obtained from measurements of cosmic particles by looking for processes that are forbidden in the conventional, Lorentz-invariant theory, but become allowed when Lorentz invariance is broken. In addition, a novel ansatz based on the extensive air showers initiated by cosmic particles in the Earth’s atmosphere will be presented. Using this approach, the bounds on Lorentz violation have been improved by several orders of magnitude. 

2023-02-09 Lorentz Violation.pdf