Spontaneous Lorentz violation, Nambu-Goldstone modes, and gravity

Robert Bluhm and V. Alan Kostelecký
Phys. Rev. D 71, 065008 – Published 22 March 2005

Abstract

The fate of the Nambu-Goldstone modes arising from spontaneous Lorentz violation is investigated. Using the vierbein formalism, it is shown that up to 10 Lorentz and diffeomorphism Nambu-Goldstone modes can appear and that they are contained within the 10 modes of the vierbein associated with gauge degrees of freedom in a Lorentz-invariant theory. A general treatment of spontaneous local Lorentz and diffeomorphism violation is given for various spacetimes, and the fate of the Nambu-Goldstone modes is shown to depend on both the spacetime geometry and the dynamics of the tensor field triggering the spontaneous Lorentz violation. The results are illustrated within the general class of bumblebee models involving vacuum values for a vector field. In Minkowski and Riemann spacetimes, the bumblebee model provides a dynamical theory generating a photon as a Nambu-Goldstone boson for spontaneous Lorentz violation. The Maxwell and Einstein-Maxwell actions are automatically recovered in axial gauge. Associated effects of potential experimental relevance include Lorentz-violating couplings in the matter and gravitational sectors of the Standard-Model Extension and unconventional Lorentz-invariant couplings. In Riemann-Cartan spacetime, the possibility also exists of a Higgs mechanism for the spin connection, leading to the absorption of the propagating Nambu-Goldstone modes into the torsion component of the gravitational field.

  • Received 12 January 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.71.065008

©2005 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Robert Bluhm1 and V. Alan Kostelecký2

  • 1Physics Department, Colby College, Waterville, Maine 04901, USA
  • 2Physics Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA

See Also

Spontaneous Lorentz and diffeomorphism violation, massive modes, and gravity

Robert Bluhm, Shu-Hong Fung, and V. Alan Kostelecký
Phys. Rev. D 77, 065020 (2008)

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Issue

Vol. 71, Iss. 6 — 15 March 2005

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