Aspects and applications of nonlocal Lorentz-violation

Abstract

We consider simple scalar theories with quadratic terms that are nonlocal and Lorentz violating. Unlike similar Lorentz-invariant nonlocal theories that we have considered previously, the theories studied here are both ghost-free and unitary as formulated in Minkowski space. We explore the possibility that the scale of nonlocality could be low in a dark sector, where the stringent constraints on the violation of Lorentz invariance may be accommodated via the weak coupling to the standard model. We point out that long-range forces may originate from such a sector and be distinguishable from more conventional beyond-the-standard model possibilities. We present a model in which a nonlocal, Lorentz-violating dark sector communicates with the standard model via a sector of heavy vector-like fermions, a concrete framework in which phenomenological constraints and signals can be investigated.

21 pages, 2 pdf figures. v2: minor corrections, added references

References in corpus (9)

• The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
• Quantum Gravity at a Lifshitz Point
• Stellar cooling bounds on new light particles: plasma mixing effects
• The Lee-Wick Standard Model
• What Do We Know About Lorentz Invariance?
• New tests of local Lorentz invariance of gravity with small-eccentricity binary pulsars
• Search for the effect of massive bodies on atomic spectra and constraints on Yukawa-type interactions of scalar particles
• Nonlocal N=1 Supersymmetry
• On thermal field fluctuations in ghost-free theories

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Asymptotic nonlocality
• A novel nonlocal spin-1/2 theory: classical and quantum aspects