Gravity from spontaneous Lorentz violation

Journal Article · Sun Mar 15 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.79.065018· OSTI ID:21266401

Kostelecky, V Alan ^[1]; Potting, Robertus ^[2]

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1. Physics Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405 (United States)
2. CENTRA, Physics Department, FCT, Universidade do Algarve, 8000-139 Faro (Portugal)

We investigate a class of theories involving a symmetric two-tensor field in Minkowski spacetime with a potential triggering spontaneous violation of Lorentz symmetry. The resulting massless Nambu-Goldstone modes are shown to obey the linearized Einstein equations in a fixed gauge. Imposing self-consistent coupling to the energy-momentum tensor constrains the potential for the Lorentz violation. The nonlinear theory generated from the self-consistent bootstrap is an alternative theory of gravity, containing kinetic and potential terms along with a matter coupling. At energies small compared to the Planck scale, the theory contains general relativity, with the Riemann-spacetime metric constructed as a combination of the two-tensor field and the Minkowski metric. At high energies, the structure of the theory is qualitatively different from general relativity. Observable effects can arise in suitable gravitational experiments.

• OSTI ID: 21266401
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 79; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
COUPLING
EINSTEIN FIELD EQUATIONS
ENERGY-MOMENTUM TENSOR
GENERAL RELATIVITY THEORY
GRAVITATION
LORENTZ INVARIANCE
MINKOWSKI SPACE
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
POTENTIALS
SPACE-TIME
SYMMETRY
TENSOR FIELDS