arXiv · 2301.06600
Are inertial vacua equivalent in Lorentz-violating theories? Does it matter?
Abstract
Several approaches to quantum gravity suggest violations of Lorentz symmetry as low-energy signatures. This article uses a concrete Lorentz-violating quantum field theory to study different inertial vacua. We show that they are unitarily inequivalent and that the vacuum in one inertial frame appears, in a different inertial frame, to be populated with particles of arbitrarily high momenta. At first sight, this poses a critical challenge to the physical validity of Lorentz-violating theories, since we do not witness vacuum excitations by changing inertial frames. Nevertheless, we demonstrate that inertial Unruh-De Witt detectors are insensitive to these effects. We also discuss the Hadamard condition for this Lorentz-violating theory.
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Bruno Arderucio Costa, Yuri Bonder, Benito A. Juárez-Aubry. 2023-02-28. Are inertial vacua equivalent in Lorentz-violating theories? Does it matter?. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aop.2023.169303
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