We have developed an apparatus to search for the higher-order Lorentz violation in photons by measuring the resonant frequency difference between two counterpropagating directions of an asymmetric optical ring cavity. From the year-long data taken between 2012 and 2013, we found no evidence for the light speed anisotropy at the level of $delta c/c lesssim 10^{-15}$. Limits on the dipole components of the anisotropy are improved by more than an order of magnitude, and limits on the hexapole components are obtained for the first time. An overview of our apparatus and the data analysis in the framework of the spherical harmonics decomposition of anisotropy are presented. We also present the status of the recent upgrade of the apparatus.
BOOST (BOOst Symmetry Test) is a proposed satellite mission to search for violations of Lorentz invariance by comparing two optical frequency references. One is based on a long-term stable optical resonator and the other on a hyperfine transition in molecular iodine. This mission will allow to determine several parameters of the standard model extension in the electron sector up to two orders of magnitude better than with the current best experiments. Here, we will give an overview of the mission, the science case and the payload.
Current limits on violation of local Lorentz invariance in the photon sector are derived mainly from experiments that search for a spatial anisotropy in the speed of light. The presently operating gravitational wave detectors are Michelson interferometers with long effective arms, 4e5 m, and sensitive to a fringe shift 2e-9. Therefore they can be used to test for a difference in the speed of light in the two arms, as modulated bi-annualy by the orientation of the Earths velocity with respect to the direction of motion of the local system. A limit can be set on the Robertson-Mansouri-Sexl parameter PMM < 10e-15, as compared to its present limit of PMM < 2e-10, an improvement of five orders of magnitude.
Hov{r}ava gravity is a attempt to construct a renormalizable theory of gravity by breaking the Lorentz Invariance of the gravitational action at high energies. The underlying principle is that Lorentz Invariance is an approximate symmetry and its violation by gravitational phenomena is somehow hidden to present limits of observational precision. Here I point out that a simple modification of the low energy limit of Hov{r}ava gravity in its non-projectable form can effectively camouflage the presence of a preferred frame in regions where the Newtonian gravitational field gradient is higher than $cH_0$; this modification results in the phenomenology of MOND at lower accelerations.
In this paper, we have applied the Lorentz-invariance-violation (LIV) class of dispersion relations (DR) with the dimensionless parameter n = 2 and the sign of LIV {eta}_+ = 1, to phenomenologically study the effect of quantum gravity in the strong gravitational field. Specifically, we have studied the effect of the LIV-DR induced quantum gravity on the Schwarzschild black hole thermodynamics. The result shows that the effect of the LIV-DR induced quantum gravity speeds up the black hole evaporation, and its corresponding black hole entropy undergoes a leading logarithmic correction to the reduced Bekenstein-Hawking entropy, and the ill defined situations (i.e. the singularity problem and the critical problem) are naturally bypassed when the LIV-DR effect is present. Also, to put our results in a proper perspective, we have compared with the earlier findings by another quantum gravity candidate, i.e. the generalized uncertainty principle (GUP). Finally, we conclude from the inert remnants at the final stage of the black hole evaporation that, the GUP as a candidate for describing quantum gravity can always do as well as the LIV-DR by adjusting the model-dependent parameters, but in the same model-dependent parameters the LIV-DR acts as a more suitable candidate.
A search for neutrino oscillations induced by Lorentz violation has been performed using 4,438 live-days of Super-Kamiokande atmospheric neutrino data. The Lorentz violation is included in addition to standard three-flavor oscillations using the non-perturbative Standard Model Extension (SME), allowing the use of the full range of neutrino path lengths, ranging from 15 to 12,800 km, and energies ranging from 100 MeV to more than 100 TeV in the search. No evidence of Lorentz violation was observed, so limits are set on the renormalizable isotropic SME coefficients in the $emu$, $mutau$, and $etau$ sectors, improving the existing limits by up to seven orders of magnitude and setting limits for the first time in the neutrino $mutau$ sector of the SME.