Spontaneous Lorentz Violation in Gauge Theories

preprint2013arXivOpen access

Abstract

Frohlich, Morchio and Strocchi long ago proved that Lorentz invariance is spontaneously broken in QED because of infrared effects. We develop a simple model where consequences of this breakdown can be explicitly and easily calculated. For this purpose, the superselected U(1) charge group of QED is extended to a superselected "Sky" group containing direction-dependent gauge transformations at infinity. It is the analog of the Spi group of gravity. As Lorentz transformations do not commute with Sky, they are spontaneously broken. These abelian considerations and model are extended to non-Abelian gauge symmetries. Basic issues regarding the observability of twisted non-Abelian gauge symmetries and of the asymptotic ADM symmetries of quantum gravity are raised.

Explore this paper’s authors, topics and related work.

Building this map preview

BZPEER is loading the nearby papers, people, topics and institutions for this page.

Reviews 0

Write a reviewWrite

No reviews yet.

Discussion 0

Add a commentWrite

No comments yet.