dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaPhysics Opportunities Above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin Cutoff: Lorentz Symmetry Violation at the Planck Scale
| Authors | Luis Gonzalez-Mestres |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/9712047 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/9712047 |
| DOI | 10.1063/1.56106 |
Abstract
Special relativity has been tested at low energy with great accuracy, but these results cannot be extrapolated to very high-energy phenomena: this new domain of physics may actually provide the key to the, yet unsettled, question of the ether and the absolute rest frame. Introducing a critical distance scale, a, below 10E-25 cm (the wavelength scale of the highest-energy observed cosmic rays) allows to consider models, compatible with standard tests of special relativity, where a small violation of Lorentz symmetry (a can, for instance, be the Planck length) leads to a deformed relativistic kinematics (DRK) producing dramatic effects on the properties of very high-energy cosmic rays. For instance, the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) cutoff does no longer apply and particles which are unstable at low energy (neutron, some hadronic resonances like the Delta++, possibly several nuclei...) become stable at very high energy. In these models, an absolute local rest frame exists (the vacuum rest frame, VRF) and special relativity is a low-momentum limit. We discuss the possible effects of Lorentz symmetry violation (LSV) on kinematics and dynamics, as well as the cosmic-ray energy range (well below the energy scale associated to the fundamental length) and experiments (on earth and from space) where they could be detected.
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"abstract": "Special relativity has been tested at low energy with great accuracy, but\nthese results cannot be extrapolated to very high-energy phenomena: this new\ndomain of physics may actually provide the key to the, yet unsettled, question\nof the ether and the absolute rest frame. Introducing a critical distance\nscale, a, below 10E-25 cm (the wavelength scale of the highest-energy observed\ncosmic rays) allows to consider models, compatible with standard tests of\nspecial relativity, where a small violation of Lorentz symmetry (a can, for\ninstance, be the Planck length) leads to a deformed relativistic kinematics\n(DRK) producing dramatic effects on the properties of very high-energy cosmic\nrays. For instance, the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) cutoff does no longer\napply and particles which are unstable at low energy (neutron, some hadronic\nresonances like the Delta++, possibly several nuclei...) become stable at very\nhigh energy. In these models, an absolute local rest frame exists (the vacuum\nrest frame, VRF) and special relativity is a low-momentum limit. We discuss the\npossible effects of Lorentz symmetry violation (LSV) on kinematics and\ndynamics, as well as the cosmic-ray energy range (well below the energy scale\nassociated to the fundamental length) and experiments (on earth and from space)\nwhere they could be detected.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/9712047",
"authors": [
"Luis Gonzalez-Mestres"
],
"categories": [
"physics.gen-ph",
"physics.space-ph"
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"doi": "10.1063/1.56106",
"title": "Physics Opportunities Above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin Cutoff: Lorentz Symmetry Violation at the Planck Scale",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/9712047"
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