CPT and lorentz tests with muons

Penning-Trap Searches for Lorentz and CPT Violation

An overview of recent progress on testing Lorentz and CPT symmetry using Penning traps is presented. The theory of quantum electrodynamics with Lorentz-violating operators of mass dimensions up to six is summarized. Dominant shifts in the cyclotron and anomaly frequencies of the confined particles and antiparticles due to Lorentz and CPT violation are derived. Existing results of the comparisons of charge-to-mass ratios and magnetic moments involving protons, antiprotons, electrons, and positrons are used to constrain various coefficients for Lorentz violation.

Overview of the Phenomenology of Lorentz and CPT Violation in Atomic Systems

This is an overview of recent publications on the prospects of searching for nonminimal Lorentz-violating effects in atomic spectroscopy experiments. The article discusses the differences in the signals for Lorentz violation in the presence of minimal and nonminimal operators and what systems are more sensitive to certain types of Lorentz-violating operators.

Lorentz and CPT Tests Using Penning Traps

The theoretical prospects for quantum electrodynamics with Lorentz-violating operators of mass dimensions up to six are revisited in this work. The dominant effects due to Lorentz and CPT violation are studied in measurements of magnetic moments of particles confined in Penning traps. Using recently reported experimental results, new coefficients for Lorentz violation are constrained and existing bounds of various coefficients are improved.

Prospects for testing Lorentz and CPT symmetry with antiprotons

A brief overview of the prospects of testing Lorentz and CPT symmetry with antimatter experiments is presented. The models discussed are applicable to atomic spectroscopy experiments, Penning-trap experiments and gravitational tests. Comments about the sensitivity of the most recent antimatter experiments to the models reviewed here are included.This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Antiproton physics in the ELENA era'.

What do we know about Lorentz invariance?

The realization that Planck-scale physics can be tested with existing technology through the search for spacetime-symmetry violation brought about the development of a comprehensive framework, known as the gravitational standard-model extension (SME), for studying deviations from exact Lorentz and CPT symmetry in nature. The development of this framework and its motivation led to an explosion of new tests of Lorentz symmetry over the past decade and to considerable theoretical interest in the subject. This work reviews the key concepts associated with Lorentz and CPT symmetry, the structure of the SME framework, and some recent experimental and theoretical results.

Superluminal neutrinos at OPERA confront pion decay kinematics

Violation of Lorentz invariance (VLI) has been suggested as an explanation of the superluminal velocities of muon neutrinos reported by OPERA. In this Letter, we show that the amount of VLI required to explain this result poses severe difficulties with the kinematics of the pion decay, extending its lifetime and reducing the momentum carried away by the neutrinos. We show that the OPERA experiment limits α=(ν(ν)-c)/c<4×10(-6). We then take recourse to cosmic-ray data on the spectrum of muons and neutrinos generated in Earth's atmosphere to provide a stronger bound on VLI: (ν-c)/c<10(-12).

Search for Lorentz and CPT violation effects in Muon spin precession

The spin precession frequency of muons stored in the (g-2) storage ring has been analyzed for evidence of Lorentz and CPT violation. Two Lorentz and CPT violation signatures were searched for a nonzero delta omega a(=omega a mu+ - omega a mu-) and a sidereal variation of omega a mu+/-). No significant effect is found, and the following limits on the standard-model extension parameters are obtained: bZ = -(1.0+/-1.1) x 10(-23) GeV; (m mu dZ0 + HXY)=(1.8+/-6.0) x 10(-23) GeV; and the 95% confidence level limits b perpendicular mu+ <1.4 x 10(-24) GeV and b perpendicular mu- <2.6 x 10(-24) GeV.

Vacuum Cerenkov radiation in Lorentz-violating theories without CPT violation

In theories with broken Lorentz symmetry, Cerenkov radiation may be possible even in vacuum. We analyze the Cerenkov emissions that are associated with the least constrained Lorentz-violating modifications of the photon sector, calculating the threshold energy, the frequency spectrum, and the shape of the Mach cone. In order to obtain sensible results for the total power emitted, we must make use of information contained within the theory which indicates at what scale new physics must enter.

Limits on Lorentz violation from synchrotron and inverse Compton sources

We derive new bounds on Lorentz violations in the electron sector from existing data on high-energy astrophysical sources. Synchrotron and inverse Compton data give precisely complementary constraints. The best bound on a specific combination of electron Lorentz-violating coefficients is at the 6 x 10(-20) level, and independent bounds are available for all the Lorentz-violating c coefficients at the 2 x 10(-14)level or better. This represents an improvement in some bounds by 14 orders of magnitude.

Modern Tests of Lorentz Invariance

Motivated by ideas about quantum gravity, a tremendous amount of effort over the past decade has gone into testing Lorentz invariance in various regimes. This review summarizes both the theoretical frameworks for tests of Lorentz invariance and experimental advances that have made new high precision tests possible. The current constraints on Lorentz violating effects from both terrestrial experiments and astrophysical observations are presented.

Bound on Lorentz and CPT violating boost effects for the neutron

A search for an annual variation of a daily sidereal modulation of the frequency difference between colocated 129Xe and 3He Zeeman masers sets a stringent limit on boost-dependent Lorentz and CPT violation involving the neutron, consistent with no effect at the level of 150 nHz. In the framework of the general standard-model extension, the present result provides the first clean test for the fermion sector of the symmetry of spacetime under boost transformations at a level of 10(-27) GeV.

Clock-comparison tests of Lorentz and CPT symmetry in space

Clock-comparison experiments conducted in space can provide access to many unmeasured coefficients for Lorentz and CPT violation. The orbital configuration of a satellite platform and the relatively large velocities attainable in a deep-space mission would permit a broad range of tests with Planck-scale sensitivity.

Cosmological constraints on Lorentz violation in electrodynamics

Infrared, optical, and ultraviolet spectropolarimetry of cosmological sources is used to constrain the pure electromagnetic sector of a general Lorentz-violating standard-model extension. The coefficients for Lorentz violation are bounded to less than 3 x 10(-32).

Test of CPT and Lorentz invariance from muonium spectroscopy

Following a suggestion from Kostelecký et al., we evaluated a test of CPT and Lorentz invariance from the microwave spectroscopy of muonium. Hamiltonian terms beyond the standard model violating CPT and Lorentz invariance would contribute frequency shifts deltanu(12) and deltanu(34) to nu(12) and nu(34), the two transitions involving muon spin flip, which were precisely measured in ground state muonium in a strong magnetic field of 1.7 T. The shifts would be indicated by anticorrelated oscillations in nu(12) and nu(34) at the Earth's sidereal frequency. No time dependence was found in nu(12) or nu(34) at the level of 20 Hz, limiting the size of some CPT and Lorentz-violating parameters at the level of 2x10(-23) GeV.

CPT-Odd resonances in neutrino oscillations

We consider the consequences for future neutrino factory experiments of small CPT-odd interactions in neutrino oscillations. The nu(&mgr;)-->nu(&mgr;) and nu;(&mgr;)-->nu;(&mgr;) survival probabilities at a baseline L = 732 km can test for CPT-odd contributions at orders of magnitude better sensitivity than present neutrino sector limits. Interference between the CPT-violating interaction and CPT-even mass terms in the Lagrangian can lead to a resonant enhancement of the oscillation amplitude. For oscillations in matter, a simultaneous enhancement of both neutrino and antineutrino oscillation amplitudes is possible.

Limit on lorentz and CPT violation of the neutron using a two-species noble-Gas maser

A search for sidereal variations in the frequency difference between co-located 129Xe and 3He Zeeman masers sets the most stringent limit to date on leading-order Lorentz and CPT violation involving the neutron, consistent with no effect at the level of 10(-31) GeV.

Lorentz and CPT tests with spin-polarized solids

Experiments using macroscopic samples of spin-polarized matter offer exceptional sensitivity to Lorentz and CPT violation in the electron sector. Data from existing experiments with a spin-polarized torsion pendulum provide sensitivity in this sector rivaling that of all other existing experiments and could reveal spontaneous violation of Lorentz symmetry at the Planck scale.