Infrared Lorentz Violation and Slowly Instantaneous Electricity

Gia Dvali, Michele Papucci, and Matthew D. Schwartz

Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 191602 – Published 19 May 2005

Abstract

We study a modification of electromagnetism which violates Lorentz invariance at large distances. In this theory, electromagnetic waves are massive, but the static force between charged particles is Coulomb, not Yukawa. At very short distances the theory looks just like QED. But for distances larger than $1 / m$ the massive dispersion relation of the waves can be appreciated, and the Coulomb force can be used to communicate faster than the speed of light. In fact, electrical signals are transmitted instantly, but take a time $\sim 1 / m$ to build up to full strength. After that, undamped oscillations of the electric field are set in and continue until they are dispersed by the arrival of the Lorentz-obeying part of the transmission. Experimental constraints imply that the Compton wavelength of the photon may be as small as 6000 km. This bound is weaker than for a Lorentz-invariant mass, essentially because the Coulomb constraint is removed.

Received 27 January 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.191602

Authors & Affiliations

Gia Dvali^1,*, Michele Papucci^2,†, and Matthew D. Schwartz^2,‡

¹Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, Department of Physics, New York University, New York 10003, USA
²Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

^*Electronic address: gd23@nyu.edu
^†Electronic address: papucci@berkeley.edu
^‡Electronic address: mdschwartz@lbl.gov

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Issue

Vol. 94, Iss. 19 — 20 May 2005

Reuse & Permissions

Access Options

Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Physical Review Letters